Unstable Elements
by C.T.II
Summary: Simon and Jeanette's relationship becomes rocky and they discover an ancient part of their people's past.
1. Chapter One

__

Chapter One

The ballroom quietly buzzed. Seated in attendance were well-dressed teens of both sexes, varying ages and two species. Jeanette felt a glowing within. It was one of those times when she shown the brightest. When recognition was heaped upon her like a snowdrift. With Simon sharing the accolades for their joint project and just simply being there with her, she was simply _happy_. 

On the stage ahead, the MC vacuously grinned and gestured to a large flat video screen that descended and dominated the stage. 

Displayed on it was Jeanette wearing a form-fitting suit, a stylized backpack rig, boots and large, ported gauntlets that were connected to the backpack through a pair of tandem cooling hoses and power lines. Before her was a large yet controlled blaze in the center of a ring of cinder blocks. She pressed two buttons on one of the gauntlets and took a step back, looking determined. 

From that upraised glove, a scintillating beam of impossible blue flared from the fingertips. It touched the center of the blaze and in seconds, the flames' color reddened and darkened, its size reduced. Soon, the now dying fire was a dark brown and was the size of lit match. Then the fire winked out and after that, the charred remains of its fuel source was a cold, black mass. 

Amidst the collected ohhs and murmurs of admiration, Simon had to admit, it felt more like an Academy Awards ceremony, with the audience watching ones best scene in a nominated film, than a gala dinner for The Young Inventors of America. Still, he had to look every bit the cool intellectual, as he glanced around the wide ballroom. Nodding at applauding groups and single well-wishers with friendly indifference. He looked at Jeanette as she bubbled. Her emotions flowing around her made her look almost magical in her formal dress that did things to her teenaged body that sparked imaginations in places where even Simon's intellect couldn't plumb. 

Then his nose, a touch more sensitive than a Human's, caught a very, very faint scent. His brain told him that it was pleasing and probably non-lethal. It was a curious mélange, earthy and sweet...and stimulating...so deeply stimulating... 

"...design for the Arctos X-1Rig."said the MC. Simon just caught that. Whatever it was, it affected concentration. _'I better investigate this when I have more time'_, he mused. 

Jeanette was already up and beaming at the oncoming kudos and applause,"Come on, Simon!",she breathed as she went around to where he sat and pulled him into standing."We did it!" 

The video screen retracted, revealing from behind it, the winning invention that Jeanette, now dragging Simon, could see on their approach to the stage. The Arctos X-1 Rig stood in all its technological glory, held up by a wire-framed, Chipmunk-sized manikin few feet away sat alone barbecue grill, waiting to be lit and summarily extinguished by the duo in a live demonstration. The winners stood on the wide stool behind the podium that raised them to microphone height. 

Jeanette stared out into the audience, speechless and enchanted. Clearing his throat, Simon began the acceptance speech."Jeanette and I would like to thank the YIA for this, their highest award, Most Outstanding Invention: Complexity Seven..."This went on for four minutes.

Despite their decorum, people were mentally nodding off. Jeanette was about to segue into demonstrating the suit's functions when she heard something in the speech. Simon was completely unaware of anything _but_ his speech yet she could clearly see someone else in her boyfriend's face.

__

Alvin.

There was nothing wrong about that, in and of itself. Simon had every right to feel pride and confidence this night. But what he wound up saying changed her mood, erased her happiness and put her on a rare defensive.

"Hands on assistant!?"she screamed uncharacteristically."I worked on as many major components as you have!"

His rhetoric broken, he addressed her coolly."Jeanette, didn't I scrounge for most of the parts and did most of the design work?"

"Only on the _hardware_, Simon. The magnetic-bubble system, emission gauntlets and the atomic counter-spin field. Just the hardware,"she countered."Your hardware couldn't get of the ground without my _software_."

The audience perked up at that, particularly the males in attendance.

"It's my computer software that keeps the systems running together so smoothly," she stated. "Especially the settings to safety-interlock the beam length and charge settings so the rig won't overload, shutdown the mag-bubble containment and blow a _hole _in your back! Last time I heard, that sort of thing is fatal."

Simon countered back,"_That's_ why _I_ armored the rig's housing. I don't need an assistant to tell me a thing or two about high-energy physics!"

__

'Again with that word, 'assistant', fumed Jeanette."I was not your _assistant_, Simon. And if you ever bothered to wonder why we never froze during preliminary tests, you could thank me for my Enviro-suit design. Boy! And I thought _Alvin _was the ego in your family!"

At that, the audience, already riveted to this little drama and more than a little entertained, started chuckling and murmuring to their neighbors and pointing at the two. Jeanette didn't care in the least of the scene they were making but Simon was visibly hit with that last remark."What! Are you _comparing _me to Alvin?"Of _all _the people to be compared to...

Jeanette knew him long enough to know that of all the people to be associated with when they were at their lowest social point, Alvin was the cat-o-nine tails to him. Inside, she grinned in triumph."No, Simon. I'm _calling _you Alvin."she said with smooth venom. 

There was a collective _"Whoa..." _from the guests. Alvin had a reputation.

"I am _not _an egotist!"yelled Simon.

"And _I'm_ not some _assistant_. I _thought _we were equals in this!"_'And other things'_, she thought sadly."Sorry if working together like this put such a strain on your ego, Simon. The last thing _I _want to do is insult your _intelligence_."

Simon smirked, more inwardly than outwardly. _'Sarcasm, Jeanette?' _he thought. _'Well! I'll just have to teach you how it's done.'_"My intelligence is not in question here, Jeanette. I would question yours, however, but unfortunately, I rarely deal in _hypotheticals_."he icily said.

Another _"Whoa..." _from the audience.

Jeanette just froze as if she was hit by their own invention, but, with a fiery streak growing within, instead of going out. _'Hypothetical!' _she thought-screeched. _'My intelligence is hypoth...'_With the fiercest look her pretty face could physically muster and without a word, she power walked to the Arctos X-1,which was behind them and to the side. She deftly flicked controls on the back of the backpack, awakening its power.

Then she grabbed one of the gloved hands of the manikin and aimed it at Simon. He managed an annoyed glance before he realized, too late, where she was. 

Simon was encased in ice before his muscles could tense up for an evading leap.

"Put _that_ in your hypothesis, _Snow cone_!"Then she walked off the stage and out of the ballroom amidst the growing consternation behind her. Vindicated but desperately holding back the tears of the betrayed.

Seated at a table in the back, a guest quietly regarded the harried rescue of Simon Seville by stagehands and chisels. The guest slightly smiled as that curious scent lingered here and there for a moment and then vanished from detection altogether.

From her and Eleanor's position, Jeanette could see Brittany writhe in the power of her performance, growling her lyrics and chirping her passions.

It didn't seem like their sister was overly concerned that this was the fifth take in the recording studio. Jeanette had only herself to thank for that, flubbing a word here, singing off-key there and generally giving their song all the momentum of an Indy 500 race car...attached to an anchor.

But this time she was more mindful of the emotions she thought she had concealed and focused on work. Eleanor and Jeanette's voices surged out in a delicious harmony with Brittany's in the final chorus. 

For a sweet moment during the harmony, Jeanette forgot about their recent graduation to the tenth grade, forgot about their upcoming world tour with The Chipmunks next month, hence this breakneck recording session. Forgot about Simon. _Almost_.

The breakup of the previous week was fast, ugly and embarrassing. It rankled her just remembering it and she was having strong misgivings about being able to be professional when she and Simon would sing together. 

That was, of course, something she never had to worry about before. In fact, when they did sing back-up, she would think sometimes that she and Simon were singing lead and alone with just themselves. No fans, no Alvin and Brittany, no Theodore and Eleanor. No _music_, either. Just two voices, romancing with vibrato, being intimate with intonation. She didn't need to know how Brittany and Eleanor felt when they sang with their counterparts. She was sure it was the same because she certainly felt the loss of it.

"-thing to eat?"managed to penetrate Jeanette's musings.

"What?"

Brittany was taking off her headphones and repeated."We're done for today. You wanna get something to eat? Ellie just left."

"Oh! Uh, no thanks, Brittany. I've gotta go to the store to get some more memory for our computer."

Brittany looked a little unsure."You sure?"

Jeanette stiffened inside."What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just that it's been a week since you and Simon sorta broke-"

"There's no _"sorta" _about it. We broke up."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I thought that maybe you'd try dating again, y'know?"

"I will! I just haven't gotten around to it yet,"said Jeanette in as diplomatic a way as shot nerves and a desperate need to internalize problems could produce."I'm in no hurry."_'Why_ _are you worried about me now?' _she thought darkly. _'Go skip down the street and flirt with the ten or eleven guys you have on stand-by when Alvin gets on your nerves. Some people are too lucky.'_

She glanced around at the soundproof window of the sound engineer's booth and thanked God that they, too, disappeared for lunch. She didn't need an audience.

Undaunted and oblivious, Brittany continued."That's okay. I just wanted to say that there are other fish in the sea."

"It's not fish that I'm worried about,"Jeanette admitted quietly before mentally kicking herself for being so blatantly vulnerable. Even if it was only to her sister, who was being uncommonly supportive.

"I know."

At some point, even silence could be deafening at the right moment. At that moment, Jeanette couldn't hear anything but her guilt of thinking so low of Brittany. _'Conflicting_ _emotions and inner turmoil can do that to a Chipmunk,' _she thought. Then she brightened inside for a Pico second when she realized that she was deeply submerged in that mental state that all at her age gloried in only after they're long past that age--_angst._

"You're right, Brittany."

__

"Huh?"Brittany was sure that wasn't what she heard. _That _declaration was as rare as a winter rose coming from Jeanette.

Jeanette surrendered with an exhale. There was no sense in being so defensive this far in the conversation."Remember when we went together to that school dance a while back because neither you, me or Eleanor could get that date with Reuben Walters?"

Brittany nodded. Their first experience with diaries and sororal trust turned ugly. Of miscommunication and mistaken identity involving a studly, assumingly available Human student named Reuben Walters. 

Add to the mix several sisterly catfights, bitter recriminations, subterfuge and the last-minute revelation that the Mr. Walters was less available than they realized made for a sobering lesson and the opportunity to reconcile before going to the dance anyway as each other's date.

"You said that we probably didn't have a chance with him anyway because, 'Like _likes_ like.' Jocks like Airheads. Nerds like Nerds...'"Jeanette said.

Brittany looked a bit uncomfortable at that mention, considering her present company. Jeanette was too down to care."And so on? Well, I guess it's true."

"Yeah, right,"Brittany said in jocular disbelief.

"You were right, okay?"Jeanette spat with fierce frustration and obvious pain. Jocularity was in enemy territory as far as she was concerned.

The rude shock that that outburst produced in Brittany didn't live long in her. She just turned it into a sympathetic smile and a disarming gesture."Take it easy, Jeanette! I'm on _your _side, remember? It's the illustrious _Mr. Seville _whose guts you hate."

Now Jeanette really felt like a heel. _'Why is she so nice all of the sudden? Better yet, why am I turning her niceness inside out by being so catty?_' "Yeah. I-I'm sorry, sis. I just feel so hurt, that's all. And confused. And lonely. And betrayed. And miserable. And tired. And-"

"Okay! Okay! I understand, Jeanette,"said Brittany while making the Time-out sign."Boy! Never let it be said that you couldn't get a handle on _your_ feelings"

That made Jeanette smile. She concluded to herself that Brittany had as much right to the time and place of her kindness as she did the manner and amount shown. _'Have to remember that,' _she mused.

"Anyway, I shouldn't have pried. Sorry."

"Don't be. I shouldn't have snapped at you. But you were right. I can't find a date."Jeanette forlornly collected their lyric sheets, subconsciously occupying her mind with that task while consciously bearing her soul. She took a sad breath and went on.

"There's no time, for starters. The tour starts next month and I'm nobody's type. Except Simon's."She took another cleansing breath."I used to _like_ that. We loved each other in our own way and I could always come to him when I was down and vice versa. Even after the fight, I'm afraid I might somehow lose him for good."Then she stiffened, betraying her thoughts.

"I don't want to be alone, Brittany"

That sobered Brittany up fast. In that simple wish, Jeanette had communicated a great fear. One Brittany and perhaps every girl on Earth shared at one time or another. Brittany came over and held her sister's shoulders while giving her that defiantly sassy yet compassionate look that she save for these times.

"Listen, honey. The Statue of Liberty is the only girl I know who should carry a torch _that _big. Just go out there and try, that's all. Simon's not the only 'munk in the woods, y'know. Besides, when we go on the road, you'll have the pick of all the boys in the world to choose from." Then she smiled a predator's grin."Just promise to leave me the _rich _ones."

Jeanette smiled warmly, feeling all the love of her sister that day."I promise."Then they sealed the deal with an affectionate hug that seemed to ease all the stress out of the room. They separated and began to finish collecting their personal effects. Jeanette was finished first and was nearing the door.

"Well, I better catch up with Eleanor."Brittany said from behind her."Where are you going?"

"I _told_ you. To get some more memory."

"You were _serious_ about that?"

"Of course."Then Jeanette walked out.

"Of course."Brittany said to no one in particular.

"So, tell me again,"Alvin asked easily from the living room sofa at home."What's it like to put your foot in your mouth?"

Simon didn't lift his head an inch as he studied the solitaire game he was in. To do so would alert Alvin to the fact that he had pressed the correct buttons. So Simon opened his mouth and erased all doubt.

"As often as that has happened to _you_, Alvin, I would have thought you were a past master of it. And I didn't put my foot in my mouth."

"Okay."Alvin said simply and unconvincingly. The smirk Simon couldn't see was triumphant. 

Simon's defenses could be circumvented easily if one kept in mind that he, too, had an ego that could be bent out of shape. Watching him squirm about, trying to cover it up like some wayward politician was absolutely delicious to Alvin. _No one _was above comeuppance. Jeanette proved that at the dinner.

Simon noticed that Alvin said nothing after that. It was quiet, pleasantly so, but he didn't enjoy it."I had every _right_ to be angry at her. _I _did most of the work. _I_ came up with the idea!"_'Why am I explaining myself... to Alvin?' _Simon thought.

"Okay."Alvin said again in Seventh Heaven.

"So please stop trying to make me feel guilty, alright,"he said haughtily."Especially about something I didn't do."A slight tingle, like a chill, passed through his pelt and made his short fur stand."Hmmph! She's lucky I didn't get pneumonia in that ice block she put me in."

"What? You didn't think she'd give you the..._cold shoulder_?"Alvin couldn't resist.

Simon couldn't scowl down Alvin's self-satisfied snickering, but gave it all he had."Cute, Alvin. Cute. Look, Jeanette can do whatever she wants to do. Stomp around in a huff and freeze half of Hollywood, for all I care. But I'll tell you what she'll have to do, ultimately."

Alvin, still grinning, perked up."What?"

Simon, on a roll, said,"She's going to have to use her logic instead of her emotions and realize, to her deep chagrin, that I was right and she was hopelessly wrong."

He paused to see Theodore enter the room."I'm big enough to _allow_ her to assist me in future projects, but she's going to have keep her emotions under control. They've already been proven to be an unstable element in the inventing process. I'm sure Edison didn't mention anything about emotions when he worked and with good reason. They're too distracting."

Alvin got up from the sofa and was strolling past Theodore. He had enough fun for this hour."Right,"he sarcastically drawled.

"Come on, Alvin. Give Simon a break."Theodore scolded good-naturedly.

"Hey, can I help it if he likes to swim in Egyptian rivers?"Alvin countered in similar fashion. 

Simon looked puzzled for 2.4 seconds before it hit him."I am _not_ in denial, Alvin!"But Alvin left the living room by then. Simon sighed in exhaustion. _'A typical battle of wits-Alvin style. He lets you say whatever you like and as much as you like and in the end you still look the fool while he nods and controls you by what you said.' _he thought."Give a man enough rope..."

"Hmm?"Theodore asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing Theodore."

"Oh. Anyway, I just wanted to say, 'cheer up'."

"Thanks, Theodore, but I'm alright."

Theodore didn't seemed convinced of that. Alvin's good-natured ribbing aside, he felt that good old-fashioned support would work better."You know, a little instability's not such a bad thing,"he said sagely.

Simon caught that remark and was inwardly surprised at him. _'Pretty deep,' _he considered but then wondered why his brother said this."How do you figure?"

"Well,"Theodore carefully related,"Earthquakes make countries and they're unstable, right? Tornadoes help the weather and they're unstable."

"They're also costly and dangerous, Theodore."

"And love _isn't_?"

Simon's mind shut down in an instant.

"Come on, Simon. I mince meats a lot better than I mince words so I'll just say,' go next door and apologize'."

Indignation rebooted Simon's mind just as fast_."Apologize?!"_Then he recovered."My dear brother, I would gladly go across the yard and apologize to Jeanette."

"That's great, Si-"

"If I had anything to be sorry for. Now if you'll excuse me? Star Trek is coming on and I'd hate to miss it."

Theodore looked into his brother's gray eyes and saw the finality of the conversation in them. He turned to leave."Okay, Simon. I'll leave you alone. Just remember, even Spock lost control sometimes." 

The living room TV clicked on and Theodore was gone. _'Maybe,' _Simon fumed in thought as he put down the remote control. _'But he always bounced back in the end.' _His mind ticked away in agitation as the final few commercials heralded the start of the show. _'Great. Alvin uses psychology to make me shoot my mouth off when that's the last thing I want to do and Theodore tries to use logical debate to sway me into a conclusion that's obviously contrary to the truth.'_

'Whatever "the truth" is...'his annoying subconscious whispered.

The show came on and his stomach knotted when he recognized the episode.

"This Side of Paradise,"he whispered alone. 

Jeanette strolled into "Otto's" from the subdued suburban bustle of late afternoon. A computer store in a suburban location meant that the interior was small and looked a lot like a Radio Shack designed by Martha Steward. Cozy with just enough sterile-looking merchandise to remind one of where he or she was. Impersonal with that personal touch.

"Hi, Otto."She waved to the dark, slightly aging Human lounging behind the wide, clean counter.

He put down his book and returned the gesture."How are you, Jeanette? Did that utilities software work out all right?"

"Oh, yes. Now all I need is some new SDRAM,64 megs. I want to upgrade before I leave to go on tour. What do you recommend?"

Otto mocked a deep-thought pose."Well, anything from PDQ Technologies is always a good bet."

Jeanette struck a skeptical pose and cocked an eyebrow up amiably."Now, Otto. This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that one of your daughters works at PDQ, would it?"

"Mmmmaybe,"he said with a sheepish grin."But don't mind me, girl. You go ahead and get what you want and don't let me hold you up."

Jeanette went further into the store."Thanks. It shouldn't take too long."

She absently picked and sorted at the choices she had on the shelf, less interested in shopping than in wondering what to do tomorrow or the week after that. She mulled over her talk with Brittany and was oblivious to everything else. From what she saw when she came in, it must have been a slow day. She saw no one in any of the aisles she floated through.

"Murakami."

Jeanette's brain snapped out of its funk and in surprise, tried to pinpoint the sound's origin."What?"

"Murakami. You wanted a recommendation on some good SDRAM. MurakamiTech makes the best around."

"Oh,"she said, staring ahead at the source of the voice. The other side of the shelves she was currently perusing.

"At least I think so."It sounded male.

"I do, too, but I can't find any here. Besides, I couldn't afford them right now."

"You know what I think? I think that it's not that you can't afford the best. It's that this store can't furnish the best. A store should reflect its patrons and if it can't furnish the best on the market for them then it's an insult to them and to-"

"What a minute. What a minute. Why don't you come over here so we can talk easier?"

"Okay. Hold on,"it said. 

Jeanette didn't know how else to handle this admittedly strange scene. The phantom speaker was quite flattering, which she liked, but did so at Otto's expense, which she didn't like. She hoped that he didn't hear them as they had to raise the voices a bit to hear through the aisle. _'Still, it's a chance to meet a new friend,' _she thought. That was the last coherent thought she had for several minutes.

The young male chipmunk appeared in the front of the aisle nearest to her and her emerald eyes lit. He was conservatively dressed in his neatly worn shirt, sweater vest, tie and slacks.

She scanned every exposed angle and side of him with silent breathless delight, like a jeweler studying a new stone, this seeming paragon of bookish handsomeness. She tried to identify him, catalogue him in such a way as to describe him to others, if asked, or to herself when she went to bed later. _'Hmm. Simon's looks and fashion sense. Alvin's exuberance and Theodore's innocent charm. Yeah. That'll do for now,' _she thought as she stared on.

It would have been rude on her part for staring so, except that he was doing it, too. His brown eyes never straying from her slim, feminine frame whose developing lengths and curves defied her comfortably loose and fashionably oversized sweater's ability to hide.

He dimly knew he was standing but felt like a puppet with cut strings. He couldn't even will himself to move any further towards her. He just basked in the aura of sweetness that he knew resided within her. The tone, cadence and inflections of a kind soul that he had heard moments before. And now, a face, a natural beauty to compliment it, was too much for his already overworked heart to bear. He had to breathe soon and when he finally did, it resembled a nervous rasp.

"Uh..."he said.

"Uh..."she said.

"Uh..."he said.

"Uh..."she said.

__

'You'll be all night like this, girl,' she thought. _'Say something!'_

"Um..."she said. At least it was different.

Suddenly he sneezed and that roused her.

"Bless you."

"Thanks."

"My name's Jeanette."She then shot a hand out for him to shake. He took it with the reservation of handling a tenth-century vase. The nude skin of his paw-palm drank in the natural softness of her hand's fur. It felt electric to him.

"Soft,"was all he uttered.

"Your name is Soft?"

"Hmm? Oh! Uh, no. My name is Arthur. Arthur Duval."He smiled awkwardly, she likewise. Then his face stretched and froze in shocked realization as he stared at her again. Jeanette was about to ask him what was the matter when he asked,"Jeanette?!"

"Yes?"

"You're Jeanette Miller! From The Chipettes!"he shouted."I can't believe it! I mean, of all the places to meet you...I mean...I just can't believe-"

"It's okay! It's okay!"she said, both flattered and flustered. Arthur tried to breathe slowly."I'm sorry. I sound more like a geek than I usually do."

"No you don't."Inside she was giddy with pride. _'This egostroking's not so bad,' _she thought._' Now I know how Brittany feels.'_

Arthur fumbled in his pockets until he produced a pen and an old receipt from a long ago purchase at "Otto's".He then gave them to her."I know you must get tired of this, but, could I have your autograph? Just yours?"

This was refreshing."Mine? You just want my autograph?"Blushing, she signed it in her best handwriting."Well, I guess I could."He stammered as she returned the items."I, um, have a few SDRAMs at home I'm not using. I could give you some. My computer is tricked out enough for this month, anyway."

"Really? Could I come over sometime and check out your hardware?"she blurted.

It was a toss-up to see who reddened the fastest.

__

'Idiot!' she thought."I mean, I'd like to interface with you. I mean, your systems! Your systems!"_'Idiot!'_

Fortunately for her self-image, Arthur didn't seem to notice her Freudian Slips. Either that, or he was quite the gentleman."That's no problem,"he said in an anxious manner."How much can you input?"

At that, Jeanette just stared at him in a love-sick daze.

Arthur, feeling a little awkward, decide to rouse her.

"Uh, Jeanette?"

"Who?"

Miss Miller's stately Victorian home glowed softly in the sunset. It was a neighborhood jewel, breaking up the ordered, visual monotony of modern suburbia. Only the well-conditioned pink Cadillac resting on the brick driveway in the yard pulled the quiet image of the home more into the Twentieth Century. 

Unnoticed to casual eyes, an indistinct figure watched that house silently. Then the watcher moved little further down the hilly street when it saw someone approach the house. A small figure ran through the front yard and up to the white wooden porch. Keys jangled and soon the ornamental door was opened and closed again. The watcher continued to watch the home.

Jeanette dropped her purchase to the floor. Her mind overloading with emotions that threatened to turn her into a nervous wreck. So she vented them in the most expedient way possible.

"WHOO-HOO!"

"Is that you, Jeanette?"Eleanor asked as she came downstairs."Yeah,"she said, coming down from the euphoria."Where's Miss Miller?"

Brittany came out of the kitchen, grinning knowingly."She went next door. She'll be back soon. Sooo, what happened?"

Jeanette felt a blush coming on. She was feeling too good to berate herself for being what she was. A girl with a galaxy-sized crush. She leaned on the closed door with a contented smile."Well, I *guess* you could say that I found someone,"she happily drawled."Or maybe someone's found _me_."She tilted her head absently."Or some such thing, y' know?"

"You found someone?"Eleanor asked excitedly."Who is he? What does he look like? What's his name?"

Jeanette straightened up to tackle the barrage of questions coming her way."Well, it's nothing really."Her quiet nature wanted her to play down all of it, but she knew that this can of worms wouldn't be closed again until every secret was divulged."He's just a really nice guy I met at "Otto's" a little while ago, that's all."

Eleanor nudged her sister with a sly smile."Yeah? Are you sure?"

"Yeah,"she said bashfully.

Brittany placed herself between the two, an arm over each one's shoulder."Alright! As soon as Simon leaves, you can spill your guts about your _mystery date_,"she said conspiratorially.

"Simon? He's here? Why?"Jeanette felt her good mood evaporate in her heart and her expressions shift to patterns of anger and pensiveness.

Brittany kicked herself for bringing his name up, now that her sister disliked him."He just came over to give me some strings for my acoustic,"she said, trying to placate her. But Jeanette's mood only became more darkly anxious.

"Well, where is he? I don't want to run into him."

"Don't worry. You won't."Simon said from the top of the stairs. Jeanette's stomach knotted, increasing the anxiety. Right then and there, she wished he was gone. Anywhere but where he was. And right then and there, she had the urge to use the bathroom. _'Stupid soda,' _she grumbled mentally.

Simon watched her move up the stairs towards him as he purposely strolled down. For every ascending/descending footstep, their adrenaline levels rose accordingly, each knowing that the moment they were closest, one of them would weaken and say something. Their shields and armor of Cool Indifference were buckling and they were now a stair apart.

Simon and Jeanette reached it simultaneously and gave each other just the barest bit of passing room. Their shoulders brushed and the two of them, feeling the first contact from either since the fight, desperately fought to keep from swooning. Upon seeing themselves weaken, they stoned up again, glaring.

"You _could _let me by, Jeanette. There _is_ plenty of room up here,"Simon muttered as they were halfway past, shoulder to shoulder.

"The only thing in your way, _Mr. Seville_, is your ego."Jeanette countered. 

As the distance began to grow, more emotionally than physically, she continued, never looking back at him."I don't want to talk to you anymore, Simon. I think you've already done enough damage to our friendship."

She reached the top of the stairs and saw Simon at the foot with Brittany and Eleanor watching them both silently. Simon just stared at the front door."What about when we go on the road?"

Jeanette sighed."We can still work together when we record, go on tour or work in the studios. But that's it."

She looked at her sisters below."Guys, let me know when he's gone. I'll be upstairs."

Simon left the girls' home with no fanfare and Jeanette glided to the bathroom and closed the door.

Brittany and Eleanor stood quietly in the foyer in awe of what had happened. The confrontation had sucked all the joy of Jeanette's news out of the house.

"Boy, this is bad,"said Brittany.

"I'll say. This is worse than when you and Alvin go at it."

"Cute, Ellie. Cute."

"No, you're right, Britt. Nothing's that bad."

Ha, ha. Look, our sister needs moral support and a shoulder or two to cry on. We need to be there for her in her crisis,"Brittany pontificated.

Eleanor knew Brittany better so she simply looked at her skeptically. Brittany got the point."After she tells us about the mystery date!"

Eleanor nodded approvingly."I'll get the ice cream!"


	2. Chapter Two

__

Chapter 2

Saturday. The slate gray overcast that surprised everyone on the streets and the slightly cool air of the late morning was invigorating.

An indistinct figure held the receiver of the neighborhood library's telephone."Male and female Chipmunks are still under observation, as they have been for the duration of the mission,"he reported. Then he asked,"Do you think the software is complete enough to ask the question?"There was a pause."Okay. Let's try it."

He looked around to make sure he was alone in the hall which held the small bank of phones. All was clear."Query: Given all global historical data, locally recorded Chipmunk/Human interaction and all Fine Arts and manuscript trade, both legal and illegal beginning with the last known or recorded sighting of The EverSpring Archive, March 3,1370,where would The Archive be found today?"

Another pause, slightly longer. The response on the other end almost made him want to rip the phone from the wall. He hung up calmly but bitterly and then turned to leave. 

__

'Stand-by. Data cannot be sufficiently collated and analyzed due to faulty or incomplete software,' he thought darkly. How often had he heard that message and how often he wished he could incinerate the supercomputer that continued to give it.

Yet he forced himself to count his blessings as he stepped out into the cool morning."Still, the reconnaissance is showing a good investment with these two,"he said to himself."With their assistance, we'll finally win."He stared at the home across the street. The home that belonged to a Chipmunk named Arthur Duval."We'll finally win."

"Jeanette! Telephone!"

"Thanks, Miss Miller!"Jeanette called from her bedroom. She trotted to Miss Miller's bedroom, put down her needle-nosed pliers and picked up the receiver."Hello? Arthur! Hi!"

"I was wondering, are you doing anything tonight?"

"Nothing important. Why?"

"Well..."he started apprehensively."I've been invited to my cousin Gale's after hours post-graduation party over at my aunt's house. She went to the University of California and I know that this is _so_ last minute for you. I mean, you're a rock star and I...I mean..."Then he composed himself."Look, I'm sorry I tried to bother you on a Saturday. You're probably too busy, anyway, Jeanette. I'm sorry." 

"Wait! Sorry about what? What did you want to say?"

Sighing and fearing rejection, he said,"I...I'd like for you to be my date, that's all."Then added quickly,"If-if you want to, I mean."

Jeanette was floored and pleasantly shocked."I-I'd like that, but...I don't know. After hours? I mean, I'd like to go, but, I'd have to ask my mother, Miss Miller, first,"she said breathlessly."I guess I'm a-a little nervous. I mean even Simon never took me to an after hours party before."

"Simon?" 

For seconds she wondered if seppuku with a pair of needle-nosed pliers would be adequate punishment for letting her flustering shoot off her mouth to her new beau about an old flame.

"Hello? Jeanette?"

"Huh? Oh! Uh, he was my old, uh, boyfriend from, uh, way back,"she answered."But it's, umm...over now and so you, uh, don't have to worry about him."

"Well,"he considered, then gave up on the grounds that that last reply had him completely taken aback."That's good to know. I guess. Anyway, do you think you'll be free tonight?"

She felt her composure recover as she reclined on her mother's bed."Well, like I said, I'll have to ask Miss Miller first but I think...Hang on, there's someone else on the line."She clicked the hook."Hello?"The voice on the other end made her squeak."Simon?! Get off the phone! I don't have time for this!"

"I didn't _mean_ to call you."Simon said indignantly from the hall phone at home."I dialed a wrong number, that's all. But at least you can stop pretending you're on the phone with someone else." 

Jeanette wondered angrily if Simon was really The Scientific Community's biggest living ego or was he just simply a jerk."I'm not pretending! Why should I?"Then she decided to shoot him down hard for bothering her on a weekend. _'He'll get the message,' _she thought."In fact, do you want to know who I'm talking to? I'll tell you who!" 

A pregnant pause.

"My new boyfriend, that's who. He just asked my out on a date and...and,"she began to waiver a bit."I'm going to say to say yes!"There was no reply but no sound of a hang up, either. He was just listening. She had him where she wanted him, she decided.

"That's right, so you can put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Seville!"Then she cut him off with a satisfying click back to Arthur."Arthur,"she spoke up in a determined voice full of spite."I'll be there. With bells on"

Simon could sense Alvin behind him, slowly shaking his head in disdain."Wrong number, Simon? That went out with mood rings."

"I *did* dial a wrong number, Alvin."

"Really,"he mockingly asked as Simon went downstairs,"Who were ya trying to call?"

"A professional killer. Your birthday's coming up,"came the deadpan delivery from below.

"Ooooo!"Alvin cried mockingly.

The bedroom clock read 11:15PM,not that The Chipettes noticed. They slept soundly in the quiet of the house that settled like a blanket over both Chipmunks and Human. 

Jeanette breathed deeply in her slumber. Or rather her _recording _of that could be heard beneath the strategically placed pillows and padding under the covers. She peeked out of their closet and checked her sisters' breathing. 

She decided that they were out for the night and stepped out in a blue party dress. 

She crept down the hall and peered into Miss Miller's dark Master Bedroom. She reposed in her customary ruffled sleeping mask over her eyes and the white family cat asleep on her feet. _'Safe,' _she thought.

After coming to a quiet stop at the foot of the stairs, she pulled out the note from her purse that gave her the rendezvous where she would meet Arthur before going to the party. Then she took a glance at the small table in the dark foyer. 

A small, flat cardboard box rested there with a stamped stylized script in blue on the front of it. 

She ignored it for the more pressing matter of wracking her brains trying to figure out what rationalizations went well with what she was going to do. She was choosing ideas and rejecting them with the quick, analytical ruthlessness of Brittany in a clothing store. 

No simple excuse could beat back the rising guilt and apprehension she was feeling in spite of her wanting to go. The longer she thought about it, the angrier she got. Something in her wanted her to go and whatever it was, it couldn't believe that she was wasting time _thinking _about it. 

So it decided to think about _Simon _for a moment and was rewarded with a most compelling argument for going. _'Yeah, that's right! That Simon! He thinks he's so smart and knows me so well! Well, I'm tired of not controlling my own circumstances enough!' _She marched out of the house and silently closed the door.

Eyes in the night, close by, watched her briskly leave the walk and head down the street.

Eyes that decided to follow.

The party was only less sedate that the average rave one went to these days. Chipmunk and Human teens, friends and relatives of the guest of honor, gyrated, bumped and collided with one another in various levels of rhythm. 

Arthur led Jeanette around the happening, meeting and greeting family members and college friends.

Before they arrived, she asked him if he wouldn't mention the fact that she was a celebrity to the guests. For one thing, she was too humble about it. For another, she didn't want someone from the party recognizing her on the street sometime afterwards in front of her family. Arthur complied reluctantly.

After eating their fill, they picked out a small dancing area off-center of the living room-turned-dance floor and got down with the rest of the guests. A figure glided up to the punch bowl and was almost unnoticed by everyone there, as was his hope. 

He scanned the room for four minutes before he spotted his quarry. From his sleeve, he surreptitiously trained a tiny dish-shaped gun in their direction and placed an even smaller device in one of his ears. A miniature button was pressed and instantly all extraneous sound and noise vanished, filtered out, except any sound coming from the two he studied. 

He barely heard the music change from House to some R+B ballad. He just silently watched and listened to them face each other, arms gently entwined.

Jeanette looked anxiously into Arthur's eyes, trying to communicate to him that she was two left feet when it came to slow dancing. 

All Arthur did was shrug of the awkwardness with a smile and said,"I'll lead." 

Something in his voice made her believe that. The dance was nothing more complex that an intimate sway, but it was enough for them. The singer's voice was hypnotic and the steady rhythmic beat kept them focused on one another as if it was a waltz from another time. 

Then Jeanette giggled self-consciously. "I feel like Cinderella. This is so silly,"she whispered.

"No. No, it's not. You _are_ Cinderella to me,"he whispered back. 

She had to turn away as she reddened."Thank you."

"I wish I didn't have to leave you though." Jeanette almost had a coronary.

"What?!"she almost squeaked aloud."Where are you going? Wh-why do you have to go?"

Arthur had the look of someone lost. Condemned. Filled with the knowledge that he was an ant's step away from losing something nearly irreplaceable."It's nothing, Jeanette, really. I just won some trip to a science summer camp for two weeks,"he helplessly explained."I-I'm sorry I scared you. Maybe you could come, too."

"I've never even heard of the place. Besides, you said that you won that trip. How could _I _go?"Jeanette long since stopped dancing after hearing this news and happiness was as vapor to her now."I wish you'd told me sooner, Arthur."

He released her and clenched his small fists to his sides, radiating waves of self-loathing and embarrassment."I knew I shouldn't have dragged you out here. I was so selfish and put you through all of this."

Jeanette reached out a hand and held his arm gently."I just wanted to show you a good time before I left,"he sighed painfully.

She breathed morosely."Arthur, it's okay."

He couldn't fathom her understanding at all but brightened with hope at a thought."I promise you. Two weeks and I'll be back before you go on tour."

"Are you sure, Arthur? We've just started going together and already something's thrown a monkey wrench in the works. It's not fair."

"I know, Jeanette. I know."

She suddenly felt dejected and hollow."Then...let's just enjoy the time we've got."

She felt more mature saying that and it helped ease some of her tension away. _'Every little_ _bit helps,' _she thought as she laid her head on his shoulder and slowly rocked in time with him.

The spy had left the party soon afterwards.

The groceries she carried from the super mart were only less burdensome than her thoughts of last night. 

She had decided during the slow dance that she was going to do something, anything, to be with Arthur at that camp. "Two weeks wouldn't be _that _long a time away before the month ended," she reasoned. _'Everything that needed to be done for the tour should have been done by now. I've got to try to convince Miss Miller. Somehow.' _

Coming up the walk, Jeanette thanked her lucky stars that she made it home without a hitch last night. Miss Miller might have been of advancing years, but she could swing a mean hickory switch when the need came. And for those rare times when it happened to her, Jeanette knew that fur alone could not protect her for its bite.

She opened the door slowly, as if not wanting to disturb anyone within. From the foyer, she could see her sisters in the living room watching television.

"Do you know where Miss Miller is?"she asked. 

Brittany lounged on the couch, strumming and tuning her acoustic guitar."In the kitchen,"she said without looking up at her. Jeanette hoisted the load and headed that way. Slowly.

On the way, she weighed the strategy of asking her foster mother right then and there to let her go, somehow, to that camp against asking her at some other nebulous time.

"Oh, yeah,"Eleanor called to her."Miss Miller wanted to talk to you about last night."

__

'Dead 'munk walking,' Jeanette thought as her knees buckled under the weight of her fear and regrets. She stepped into the kitchen with a cold stomach and dry cheek pouches. 

Miss Miller looked up from her tea and newspaper and took one of the bags from her."Oh, hello, dear. Back so soon?"she said pleasantly.

__

'Strange way to start off, 'thought Jeanette warily. _'Why be pleasant about it. Just ground me for my next three lifetimes or set me up with an appointment with 'Ol Hickory. Just don't _toy _with me!'_

"Uh, yeah. Uh, Miss Miller, uh, I was just going to say-"her heart was sitting in her stomach.

"Don't worry, dear. I already know,"she said in that same tone.

__

'This is torture,' Jeanette fretted as worry darkened her normally cute and pale-furred face."You do? I-I know I should have come to you first, but-"

"Well, it must not have seemed to matter to you after you got your message Saturday."

"How did you know?"Jeanette was dumb-and thunder-struck.

"It just came to me. Oh, Jeanette, I know that Brittany and Eleanor aren't saying, but we're so happy for you."

Her daughter was the picture of surprise. She now knew how a Death Row inmate felt after receiving a gubernatorial pardon. She didn't understand why she was so happy, but she could definitely see an out when shown."You are? Really? Well, I really wanted to go and I thought I'd have a pretty good time there."

"I suppose so. It seems right up your alley."

"Actually, I kind of thought that Brittany would have had a better time." 

Miss Miller looked at her oddly."Brittany?"

"Yeah. But I guess anyone could go if they had a date like I did."

"Date?"Miss Miller asked suspiciously. Jeanette hardly noticed.

"Yeah. We had a great time at the party last night."

"What party?"Miss Miller was now getting concerned and annoyed. Something Jeanette was just starting to notice."Yes. What's wrong, Miss Miller?"

"What date? What party?"

__

'She's forgotten already,' she thought in grief at the seemingly obvious loss of her mother's faculties at this stage of her life. Still, she would humor her and be understanding, like a good daughter should be. Poor Miss Miller.

"Uh...my date with Arthur at the after hours party last night. Remember?"The look in Miss Miller's eyes told her that her foster mother was talking about something else entirely."Uh, heh, heh. Wh-what did you think I was talking about?"she asked nervously.

"The videotape that was delivered by messenger yesterday afternoon while you were on the phone. It's from Science Island Summer Camp. You won a complimentary visit there. I forgot to tell you, but I left the tape on the table near the front door for you."

Time froze for Jeanette and then from the living room, her sisters heard a squeal explode from the kitchen."I DID?! I DID?! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I CAN'T-"She was already happily forgetting the growing peril that still existed."Oh, Miss Miller! I promise that I'll make it back home in time for the tour, I swear!"

This time Miss Miller was dangerously cool."Uh-huh. I don't doubt that,"she said in her Southern drawl."But before you leave, you and I are going to have a little _talk_, young lady."

Jeanette looked in her eyes again and realized what she meant immediately."Guess I really _should_ have come to you, first, huh, Miss Miller?"she asked with gallows dancing in her head, remembering also the box she ignored last night.

"Uh-huh." 

Poor _Jeanette. _

The clouds meandered along the wings. Underneath, the Pacific seemed to be as still as a painting although it glittered from the sun.

"It looks nice out there."said Jeanette, adjusting in her seat again for the eighth time. _'Five days and I'm still sore,' _she thought bittersweetly. _'But I'm here. It was worth it.' _

Arthur smiled from the seat beside hers."I figured you'd like the window seat."

"Thanks, but we can take turns using it. I don't want you to miss out."

The small seaplane's only two passengers suddenly felt the subtle, gentle force of gravity pull up at them. A descent was in progress. 

Jeanette glanced out the window and was rewarded by the view of a large, green, irregular shaped crescent sitting in the blue vastness. 

As the plane descended further, they could make out distinctions in the terrain. It was a fairly large atoll that civilization leveled off significantly on the east and Nature peaked and rose with tiny valleys and hills towards the west. 

The stately seaplane landed smoothly and cruised into the island's natural bay, steering for the east.

"This is epic,"Arthur said as he fumbled at his seatbelt after he felt the plane finally stop.

"I can't believe it, either. What are the odds?"Jeanette said, standing. They blinked at the sunlight of one of the clearest days they had ever seen as they passed the passenger hatchway. 

Besides the seaplane, the docks were shared with a weathered freighter, two yachts and a research hydrofoil. Despite the excitement, they inhaled the warm, heady sea air and calmed at the sounds of the gulls feeding near the coves close by.

Someone could be seen walking a brisk professional pace along the dockside parking lot towards them. 

She wore a tailored suit, a hairstyle and a grin that spoke of a healthy salary. The click of her heels alerted them to her approach. 

She closed the distance and held out her manicured paw-hand. Arthur took it, not knowing what to make of this."Hi! I'm Sheila, a representative of Science Island,"the adult female Chipmunk gushed.

"Uh, hi,"said Jeanette shyly from behind and to the side of Arthur. 

Sheila took her paw-hand and shook it energetically,"Oh, we are so glad that you both won our random choice contest! And we certainly don't get celebrities down here! This is a real treat, Miss Miller!"

Jeanette was taken aback. At school, she was never this popular and on the road or in concert, she was used to Brittany being in the forefront. Now she was the star, the celebrity, The Popular One. It was like a drug to her."Thanks."

"Oh, no! Don't thank us. We're just glad that you won and don't worry, we'll make sure that you're well taken care of." She then herded them to her modified company car.

"Now, if you'll come with me, I'll show you the campgrounds, the facilities and I'll introduce you to the others who got here the old fashioned way,"she joked.

Once inside, she settled into her raised seat and slipped her feet into the stirrups of the elevated brake and accelerator pedals. Soon the sedan glided out of the lot and onto the main road.

"As you can see, the eastern side of the island is where the camp and campgrounds are located. The camp itself has the financial backing of NASA, Macrofirm and I.T.O and most of its equipment has been purchased or donated from them so the facilities are quite state-of-the-art,"she lectured as she could see the expansive, walled property getting closer.

"I noticed that the island is an atoll,"Jeanette piped up.

"Yes, it is. A little joke around the camp goes that when we purchased the island in the mid-eighties, the sovereign government never named it. So before we named it Science Island, we named it-"

"Nothing!"

"Atoll! Right!"The pair chuckled at the pun while Arthur just wanted to bury his head in the sand after hearing it. And all the while, the surveillance cameras within the car and without, silently clicked away.

After checking in with the guard at the gate house, Sheila drove into the parking lot. Her charges could now see what the well-made, ivy-covered walls hid and protected. 

Full, imported trees and tall, modern buildings could be seen all around the orderly, landscaped interior. There wasn't a rustic thing to be seen here. Not one cabin, shack or outhouse in the whole of the place. 

In fact, with the dormitories, gymnasium, cafeteria and lounge, the huge, gleaming white Science Center that dominated the area like some ancient temple and the administration building off to the side, it wasn't a camp at all. It was a full-blown _campus_.

A moderate sized crowd of guests milled about excitedly on the Quad, laughing and chattering amongst themselves or resting on the lawn or on the Quad's fountain. Adults wearing suits or lab coats were discussing schedules and events with smaller groups that they culled from the larger throngs. 

That there were teens and adults, male and female, in attendance, was nothing to remark on. The fact that they were all Chipmunks, however, was striking.

Sensing that they noticed that, Sheila remarked,"You may have noticed that all the guests and staff here are all Chipmunks. That's one of the policies of Science Island. Here we try to cultivate and enrich the Chipmunk mind before they return to the world."

Perhaps it was the car's acoustics or maybe it was her imagination, but for a moment, Jeanette thought that she detected a bitterness in Sheila's voice. 

Sheila cleared her throat and opened the door. Soon she and her charges were wending their way along the paths of the campus, out away from the crowds, in a staff golf cart while she continued her tour.

The proceeding hour was spent with Sheila concluding the tour and the pair being turned over to The Activities Coordinator and briefed, in an equally cheerful patter, on all the amenities therein and when to enjoy them. Soon they were free to join the rest of the patrons.

It was close to evening when the VR lab doors opened. Everywhere, campers lost all track of time as their intellects were being appeased. Math, chess and science clubs were swelled with attendants. Hands-on experiments were conducted with abandon. Computer use nearly overtaxed the networks. It was a nerd's paradise and no one would disagree with that assessment.

Jeanette was pulling off the oversized VR telemetry gloves and clipping them to the belt of the accompanying form-fitting suit. 

Arthur was waiting outside the labs when she finally finished changing into her civvies and came to him. His mind at the moment was occupied with only one particular thought: the image of her in that black telemetry suit. Black was slimming, but on her already slim body, it made her look outright sinful in a high-tech way. He valiantly opted for propriety as he spoke up.

"Clever use of that ocean wave to block my missiles after I locked-on to your heat signature."

"Thanks. I saw it done in a movie once,"she shrugged."So, what do you want to do now?"

"Rest!"he grinned."Actually, I thought we could take a walk around the campus."

She smiled."That would be nice."

Two adult males caught her attention as they flanked Arthur on either side. He didn't seem too concerned as they asked him to come with them to The Administration Building.

"I'll be right back, Jeanette,"he said easily."Probably just something to do with the contest we won."Then he and his escorts went down the hall. 

Jeanette just stood there for a minute or two, trying to interpret what just happened. She finally decided not to worry about it and busied herself by roaming the halls for anything interesting to do.

Homing in on an authoritative, echoing voice in an auditorium, she snuck inside and sat unobtrusively in a vacant front-row seat. The Chipmunks in attendance were in rapt attention as their subject of interest, a portly, scholarly looking, bearded male, continued his lecture unabated while he watched the room clock with practiced glances. Quitting time was soon.

"The most compelling evidence of The Splintering, the mytho-historical separation of our people in ancient times, has been the Twee-Twee tribe of Siesta Grande, Mexico,"he said.

A young male raised his hand and spoke when noticed."Professor Maywood, does this discovery validate the notion or theory that we assimilated Human culture or was assimilated by it?"

The professor thought a minute."It would be safer to say that we had to do both to survive with Humans. The Twee-Twee obviously had to adapt to the Mesoamerican way of life and you'll find that that has happened worldwide, in almost every country and culture for centuries."

He turned to a chart hanging on a blackboard that displayed both nude male and female Chipmunks and the more socially isolated and elusive Grey Squirrels in varying stages on evolution. "Now Professor Karman's theory is as hotly contested now as it was forty years ago. Though some still think she was more philosophical that theoretical, there are many adherents to her so-called, Selective_ Evolution _theory."

He then pointed to the chart."Here we can see the progressive evolutionary path of our species, Neoeutamias Bagdasarianii, named in honor of the Tenth Century Armenian troubadour who reputedly discovered us..."

Jeanette watched the pointer move along the levels of biological improvements, her mind feeling pleasantly stimulated by the lecture than on the more lighter pursuits and entertainments of the past few hours.

"Though there are some genetic variations on the theme, longer tails or non-existent ones, Human-sounding speech, clearly a birth defect and thankfully rare..."

Jeanette was glad none of The Chipmunks were there to hear him say that. Their Chipmunk paternal grandfather sounded Human enough to fool one over a telephone.

"Or in females, the inability to bear a litter of two to three children at a time, the development is seemingly consistent with Professor Karman's work."Then the professor turned to his audience, earnestly considering them.

"Hypothesis or Historical? Biology or Bunk? Conclusive or Conjecture? That is the question, people. Well, one of the many questions that we have to ask ourselves. We cannot let Humanity do our questioning and answering for us. That's what these lectures and forums are all about."

Professor Maywood stepped away from the podium and chart and addressed the group from the edge of the stage. He seemed to be talking in her direction, she thought."To question the accepted Human norms of their society about us. To shatter the myths and archaic, naturalistic dogma that still exists well past Linnaeus' day. To dig for the truth and build a foundation or our voice to be heard."

He took another glance at the clock."Now, in the few minutes we have left, let's field the theory question around."He looked at Jeanette as though she just materialized and gestured to her."You. I haven't seen you here before. How about it? What do you think about Karman's theory? Do you agree with her assessments or findings?"

Until now, Jeanette was content to simply listen. To say little and hear much. Now she was surely taken aback by Maywood's questioning. Clearing her mind, she responded."You know, no one's ever asked me that before."

"Well, what do you think?"he pressed.

"Well, I think that Professor Karman's Theory of Selective Rodential Superspecies Evolution has a few salient points, but I just can't see how _one_ species of chipmunk and _one_ species of Grey Squirrel could evolve into what we are now. Not to mention, the fact that there has never been any fossil remains of our species found in any of Earth's later geological eras. And what about the little documented accounts of other animals having slightly elevated levels of intelligence, like a species of penguin that my sisters and I encountered in Antarctica a few years ago. They created a village of igloo dwellings and near-Human furnishings for their colony."

Maywood's face was a mask of admiration. He nodded to her while some of the group murmured about what she said."Good thinking and good questions."Then, as an afterthought, said,"I suppose if one were to find The Archive, the answers might be there."

"Archive?"

"The Archive,"he said wistfully."The _EverSpring_ Archive. The Eldest Tome. The Wooden History of Mysteries. The Great Book of The Green Road. Incunabula de Rodenta. Many names for one ancient book, my dear. Legends say that it details the chronicles of our people from the oldest time recorded. From the first moment the book was written and our personal history to The Splintering and our first contact with Man. Every historian, anthropologist and zoologist has tried to find and research the book. A noble goal, especially for a Human, to follow. 

Anyway, all the answers that Chipmunks have been looking for ages are said to be in those pages, waiting to be read."With that, he started to collect his papers and prepared to leave. The group was already starting to disperse from the room.

"Including our biological origins?"she asked as she got to leave.

"It may. If our people were as profound as we think they were, then they may have written something on the subject. Well, I must dash."

Then to the rest of the group, he said,"I'll see you all tomorrow for our next forum and lecture: Chipmunk orphans. Concern or Conspiracy? Good Evening, everyone."

The Quad was tranquil in the island sunset as fewer campers appeared outside."So, did they say why they wanted to talk with you?"Jeanette asked Arthur.

"Like I figured. The contest. They wanted to know if we were related to any employees of I.T.O."

"I.T.O. Didn't Sheila say something about that in the car earlier?"

"Yes. It's a really, really large international technology firm. Computer parts, telecommunications. You know they developed the experimental First Generation-"

"CrysChip! Yeah! Now I remember. Storing tons of data in a photo-aligned crystalline matrix. I wish I had one of those,"she blurted.

"How would you like to _work_ on one?"

"What?"was all she could say.

Arthur looked a little penitent."I suppose I'd have to tell you eventually, Jeanette."

"What?"

"I know a little more about this camp than your average camper. In fact, I sort of own it."

"What?"

"Well, you didn't want me to make a fuss about you being a celebrity. I guess I didn't want you to make a fuss about the fact that I'm one of the wealthiest Chipmunks on the planet."

"One of the wealthiest?"she sputtered.

"No. You're right, I'm sorry,"he corrected."_The _wealthiest."

"But-"

"Look over there!"

She turned to the direction he gestured towards and then felt something surprising on her cheek. A kiss. Light yet totally unexpected. She turned to face him, pleasantly surprised and reddening. He said nothing. He just looked down with a lopsided smile. 

Jeanette coyly smiled, as well, but then suddenly felt a bitter shock in her guts. A pang of sudden guilt and loss. Simon. 

Her mind weakly tried to push away everything she and Simon went through. It only made her stomach flip-flop even more. She couldn't help it and she didn't want to fight it. _'Don't tell him,' _she thought._' Arthur doesn't need to know. Besides, I'm confused enough already.'_

She tucked her emotions away and forced a gentle smile to her face."That was a surprise,"she said shakily. She shook even more when he held both of her hands and looked at her in earnest.

"Jeanette, I want you to know that I trust you. I-I think I..."he stopped to compose himself."I told you the truth about me. I didn't have to. I didn't need to, but...Look at me. I'm the richest teen in the world and you can turn me inside out with a smile."

He took her to a bench and they sat, Arthur still holding her hands."My father is Phillip Duval, owner and chairman of the board of I.T.O. I.T.O. owns the island and the camp. The camp itself is a private think tank for the firm. Everything we build is for the betterment of the planet in some way. We don't build weapon systems or pollute the environment or anything like that, honest."

"Do the others know about this think tank?"

"No. They just think they're here having fun."

"But,"Jeanette pressed.

"But every hands-on experiment we involved ourselves in, every program we ran or wrote, every game we played or staff member we talked to was in someway used in the development of new products or technology. And more. We truly believe in the social and cultural reinforcement of our species, Jeanette, and this think tank helps make that possible."

"Well that's great, Arthur, but how am I involved in this?"

"I.T.O. has been developing a new computer with a Second Generational CrysChip in our R+D labs, but the operating system still needs work. One of the reasons we have computer labs on campus is for us to see who has real computer skill. A programmer, not just a hacker."

"And you think I'm qualified?"she asked, a little surprised.

"Actually, you're perfect. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd streamline our next type of software we're working on, Emotitronics."

"Emotion-factored software?" Jeanette gushed. "Software that operates with the user's own emotional feed-back? One possible foundation for Artificial Intelligence? I read about that in Top Tech Monthly. Boy! Sheila was right. You guys _are _cutting-edge!"

"_Bleeding_-edge, actually,"he demurred."But you see? You're interested in what we do. Think about it! Your brilliant mind and your status as a member of The Chipettes could be invaluable to what we're doing."

Jeanette seemed to think about it, indeed."Well...I guess I _could _help out. But what about my tour? I can't stay here past two weeks, you know that."

"You won't, I promise. But I still want you to see the new computer, anyway. Give it an evaluation, maybe? See what you improvements it ought to have."

Jeanette sighed, surrendering to the hard-sell."It means that much to you?"

"If I didn't think it was this important, I wouldn't have wasted your time with it, Jeanette. Will you?"

__

'I guess it couldn't hurt,' she thought."Alright, I'll look at it, It's not everyday you get to see a new generation of computer."She took off her glasses and prepared to clean them on her sleeve when Arthur handed her a cleaning cloth."I figured you'd need it."

"Thanks. I didn't know you wore glasses, too." 

"Only when I'm studying. Let's go. I'll take you to our facilities."They stood and then walked in the direction of the Administration Building.

"Lead the way,"she said cordially. _'This might be a good thing, after all,' _she thought. _'Maybe I'll be too busy to think about Simon.'_

Not if you were building the Space Shuttle from the ground up, her subconscious pricked.

They walked though the ornate halls of Administration. Nothing seemed out of place _for_ an administration building except for the fact that somewhere Jeanette hadn't seen yet since arriving on the island was the research and development labs of a benevolent multinational corporation.

__

'Oxymoron,' Jeanette thought as she was led to the lone elevator in the middle of the marble tiled hall. They stepped into the car and then Arthur pressed the Third Floor button twice, the First Floor button three times, the Second Floor button four times and then the Basement Floor button. The car descended.

"What I don't understand, Arthur, is why all the secrecy? If you needed me that badly and you set all this up just to bring me here, why bother? You could have just asked me back home."

"Two reasons,"said Arthur."One. Some people, Humans, I fear, have taken a dislike to our pro-Chipmunk aims and feel a bit threatened by our stand to give Chipmunks a greater voice in what they term, Man's World."

"You mean Humanity's Hand?"asked Jeanette soberly, running remembered news reports of their actions in her mind."They're after you?"

"Not me, per se. But they wouldn't mind putting a stop to all we've accomplished so far. But you're right. We shouldn't have done this. We should have been more honest with you, but we were scared that they might have sabotaged the project. There were so many spies in your neighborhood alone that a contest was the only way we could bring you here without their knowledge."

"And the second reason?"

"I wanted to be near you."

The car stopped.

Jeanette noticed that she was holding her breath when the doors parted. She tentatively walked out and quickly realized that she figuratively, if not literally, stepped onto Terra Incognita, unfamiliar land. 

Incredulously she took in everything she had time for as she and Arthur marched through clean, bright, steely halls of Corporate Science. Chipmunks moved about with purpose in lab coats and a stylized uniform that sported an insignia of sorts, a silhouette of a tree, around the arm.

Workers carried equipment that Jeanette seen before and others that she couldn't begin to fathom. _'MunkTechs'_, Arthur called them. She couldn't believe that she was here. In all the world, she could have been anywhere, doing anything. But to walk these labyrinths of technology, to see what no average citizen of the world could see, the possible birthplace of AI, a new level in the planet's technology, was thrilling, to say the least.

They stopped at a large set of smoked glass doors. Written in glowing script, were the words: Predictor Lab.

"Predictor?"she asked.

"The name for our new computer. What do you think? Too pretentious?"

"Oh, nooo,"she sarcastically smirked.

"Well, it's just a working title,"he chuckled."After you, my dear."

For the second time, doors parted for Jeanette and once again she felt like she stepped onto another planet.

The interior was literally panoramic. The ceiling was spacious, vast, with only the occasional fan or vent to maintain the constant cool temperature needed. The curving, expansive walls were covered with terminals, nothing was bare. She just stared in awe at what could be described as a cathedral of computer science. The ballroom of a few weeks ago seemed so small to her now.

But if this was a cathedral, then the towering terminal she now gazed at could only be its altar. It dominated the mechanized vista easily. Its flat, dark, wall-like monitor loomed over the workers like a soon crashing tidal wave frozen in time. The terminal's keyboard was curved and ergonomically sound, yet frightfully complex, holding more special function keys than the norm. It was apparent the other computers were merely satellites to the larger one, monitoring and assisting it constantly and unceasingly.

"Predictor?"she whispered.

"Just the prototype. It'll be scaled down, of course. We just use this supercomputer to help with the software. That's what we're hoping you could help us with."

They went further into the chamber amidst glances of curiosity and/or concern from the MunkTechs within. Jeanette shyly glanced back, hoping not to offend them. As if he sensed her uncomfortability, Arthur stopped in the center of the cavernous room and spoke up.

"Ladies and gentlemunks, please stop what you are doing for the moment. This is my guest, Jeanette Miller."She weakly waved at their salutations."She will be supervising the Predictor Project in my stead."She turned to him in wordless shock. Supervising!

"I know you can do it, Jeanette. I believe in you."He turned back to the crowd."All technical operations will be under _her_ direction concerning software design. Make me proud, people. Okay, back to work."

She solemnly approached the terminal, feeling like she did on her first concert, so many years ago, nervous, intimidated and exhilarated all at once. She lightly touched the keys and felt a thrill run through her body.

Behind her, Arthur watched her get more and more acquainted with The Predictor. He never felt such a sense of pride or love in her. He didn't think there was anything he couldn't do with her by his side. She was already seated at the terminal when he stood by her.

"How does it feel?"

"Not bad! I'm impressed, Arthur, but this might be too much machine for me to handle."

"Nonsense. You'll get the hang of her. Just start whenever you're ready. I have to go for a little while and take care of a matter with Quality Control. I won't be long."

He turned to leave but was stopped cold by Jeanette softly holding his hand."Thanks. I'll do my best." 

Arthur couldn't say anything. So he just smiled and melted inside.

The meeting chamber was intentionally dim. Subdued lighting made the room, with its black circular table, matching leather seats and general Medieval decor, an even somber place.

Three dark robed figure sat, agendas, secrets and suspicions swimming in their malevolent minds. One of the attendees wordlessly raised a hand and a voice, high, cultured and smug, floated out from the depths of the ebon hood.

"Progress."

"The search for The Archive continues, of course, however, it shouldn't be much longer,"said one of the three. The one the other two were here for.

"I actually believe that,"said the other."How goes our progress with the P.A.C.s', then?"

"The reports show that they are in final testing now. The defoliant shields are also being field tested."

"Good. How about our fail-safe?"

"It is still in readiness, sir. Even if Chipmunks manage to stop us, Operation Nightlight will not fail, even if everything else does."

The two nodded approvingly."Good. How about our quarry?"asked the first one.

"Despite a disruption in surveillance, Jeanette Miller is being watched. Someone is with her almost all the time."

"Almost?"asked the second one.

"Well, the target has to _not _suspect anything unusual, considering where she's staying at the moment. Allowing her to work and interact with the other Chipmunks allays any suspicion about us and what we've planned for them."

The duo glanced at each other, weighing the third's decision. They soon nodded again. The third continued."And as for the other one she's with, I wouldn't mind having another little 'chat' with him again. Just to let that Chipmunk know who I am and what I have of his,"he hissed.

The two chuckled low at that as the first spoke again."Agreed. But we must be careful, regardless. Interpol would like nothing more that to destroy our advances against them. We must handle these two delicately. They may not know it, but they have a powerful ally in Interpol that could be devastating to us."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way,"added the second figure."You mentioned yesterday that you suspected that an Interpol agent was working in our organization. Have you discovered who it is?"

"Oh, yes. The agent is enjoying our hospitality at this moment. Our only true concern is The Archive. We can't go forward with any of our plans until we have that book. With its information in our hands, Chipmunks will soon understand what they're up against."

"Agreed,"said the first."Chipmunk/Human relations is a dangerous, fallacious thing and it must be cut off at the knees. History screams the examples of the past. The suffering and bloodshed caused because one wanted to claim a brotherhood with the other. They will pay for that lunacy."

The third was typically stirred by such sentiments. Now was no exception."Yes, sirs. They will pay most dear."

Her aching fingers blurred over the keyboard to the growing awe of those MunkTechs not busy around her. 

She sat upright and worked without distraction, binding programming code together in an almost intuitive way. Like a sorceress weaving an algorithmic spell, Jeanette was caught up in that same enchantment. Nothing filled her mind outside her work, not even thoughts of Arthur intruded. She looked every bit the virtuoso.

On the monitor above, hexagonal shapes, visual, tri-dimensional equivalents of megabyte blocks of data, shifted, floated and connected into place like a complex game of Tetris, into the semblance of a glowing, geometric wall. The visual representation of a now self-correcting piece of software.

"I have to hand it to you, Miss Miller, you sure know your code,"said the closest MunkTech to her.

"Thanks, but please, call me Jeanette. I'm just happy to help out, that's all,"she said modestly."Whatever this software will be, it'll be very, very complex. I guess it's a good thing the basic code is so familiar,"she mused to herself."It should be finished in a few hours, once I reinstall this Decision Generator. It seems to be at the heart of the operating system, every other function seems to be subordinate to it. This is going to be a _thinker_,"she marveled."Oh, and thank you for making me a honorary MunkTech. The uniform is quite stylish." 

She looked down at the singular tunic and trousers she sported. Only its colors, blue and violet and its markings, stood her out from the rest.

"Don't mention it. We're just glad to have you here helping us. We might be able to finally finish on time,"said a female MunkTech.

"Yeah,"said her companion,"How'd ya get The Predictor to debug its own compiler like that?"

Jeanette modestly shrugged."It was nothing, really. Simon would show me-"Her hand shook and her heart fluttered erratically.

"What's wrong, Jeanette?"

She felt like she was being electrocuted."Air,"she gasped."I'll be back. I-I'm just tired."She unsteadily launched from her comfortable seat, which at the moment, didn't feel so comfortable, and rushed out of the lab.

"Think she'll okay?"he asked.

"Yeah, but call Maintenance to check the air quality, just in case,"said his female companion.

"Right."

Jeanette leaned against a wall in an empty corridor around the corner from the labs, gulping air.

__

'Why?' she thought frantically. _'Why do I still have him_ _on my mind? I'm falling for Arthur, but I can't help it. I miss Simon! I..._miss_...Simon.' _

She kept running that thought through her tired mind over and over while she sat on the cold floor and finally wept all her heartache and bitter confusion away.

The office was tasteful, dark and quiet. The heavy wooden door opened with a crack of light beaming from the hallway onto the carpet.

Jeanette found it hard to believe that this was Arthur's office. She figured that he truly earned his father's respect and trust and that this office and the responsibility given him reflected that.

It took some time to find the place after she had gotten the heartbreak out of her system, a half hour ago. She felt tired and it was getting late. A few work-related questions and she would hit the sack. In sleep, there would be no thoughts, no questions afterwards or insecurity. Just numbing peace and darkness.

"Arthur,"she croaked in a sob-strained voice,"Are you busy? I just wanted to say that the software is almost complete. The MunkTechs should be able to finish up the design and it should be ready to be compressed into a disk or three."

When there was no response, she braved a peek and looked in. No one was there. She tip-toed inside and turned on a nearby lamp. The place was as she expected it to be. Cozy, well-furnished in a scale comfortable for a Chipmunk and sedate, yet businesslike and no-nonsense, as well.

Her eyes glided around the contours of the room, around the potted plants and corporate placards. Then she saw, along a section of wall, a collection of awards and certificates of varying enterprises, bearing Arthur's name boldly. They ranged from the scientific and scholarly to the recreational.

Jeanette smiled as she perused the gallery at her leisure. Every accomplishment seen, put another point or two on her personal scoreboard, making her believe more and more that her decision to give him her heart was not only a good one, but a sound investment in her future.

__

'Mrs. Jeanette Duval?' she mused wistfully,_' Hmmm...'_

She went to another award but found that she was having difficulty reading it. Blinking in annoyance, she slipped her glasses off and checked the lenses. Their surfaces were coated with dust and dried tears. _'That's a relief,' _she thought, _'I thought I was more tired than I am.'_

Putting them back on, she padded her pockets for the cloth Arthur gave her earlier and soon found that she left it in her civvies. In exasperation, she turned to leave and saw something on the polished desk.

Among the stationary, was Arthur's eyeglass case. A smooth well-made affair with his initials, in gold, on the lid.

"I'll borrow his cloth,"she said to herself as she opened the case.

If it was rigged to explode upon opening, Jeanette couldn't have been in more shock. Recognition hit her like a force of Nature and made her drop the case. The object bounced on the carpet safely by her feet but the damage was already done as far as she was concerned.

She quickly knelt and pocketed it. Then she placed the case back on the desk and turned off the lamp. 

Incredulity flooded her mind as she passed the threshold and closed the door. She moved through the halls to the elevator, unnoticed and unstopped, like a thief. Her bed back at the female dorm called to her, but what she saw and now possessed would give Sleep the fight of its life. 

She stepped into the car and pressed the First Floor button while feeling the prize in her pocket. If she could live eight lifetimes, she was sure that what she had with her now was the last thing she would have ever expected to find on either the island...or Arthur's office.

The car ascended...


	3. Chapter Three

__

Chapter Three

The guard studied the monitor with an intensity generally reserved for violent criminals and the like. He tolerated computers well enough, but when they didn't do what he wanted them to do, like _work_, for example, then he entertained thoughts of caving in the monitor with a ball-peen hammer and melting the rest with a flamethrower. 

Like tonight. 

He decided not to risk a dismissal over a fit of pique and settled in his chair to continue reading his romance novel. He liked the solitude and the quiet of his post, night after night. The place was always clean and nothing untoward ever happened to him or anyone there. _'Guards everywhere should have posts like this,' _he thought as he wrapped his mind around the latest plot complication of the heroine.

Because of the size of the campus and the regulated activities of everyone there, security was rather light, so he was the only one in the security station with only one other patrolling the halls of the Science Building.

The security station faced the lobby and the wide front windows that commanded views of the Quad and other buildings in the campus. The lighting outside was sufficient for him to see anyone moving outside the main doors, so he simply took an occasional glance up at his leisure.

He put down the book and looked at the monitor with its still frozen screen of now useless data. He couldn't believe that something as small as an hourglass icon could get him into such a simmering, murderous funk. Yet he continued to stare at a program that _still_ hadn't finished running and continued to forget the flowery intrigue of his book with every angry sigh of frustration.

If he was still reading, he might have missed seeing someone crossing the Quad and approach his building. As it was, he soon saw movement outside that made him look past the monitor.

Jeanette marched the paths along the Quad, deep in thought. She wished it was the shower she took earlier, after she arrived at her dorm or simply insomnia that made it almost impossible for her to fall asleep.

Her discovery in the office was still fresh in her mind. That and another image that persisted. A reason for the object being there. 

__

'Revenge or retribution,' she thought, wincing to the fact that she was starting to sound like Professor Maywood a bit. But the _possibility_ of such an act was becoming too likely. Almost perfect. That scared her because, if it were true, than _she _would have been the cause of what was likely to happen next, if it hadn't happened already.

But that was later. Or _could_ be later. The more pressing fact that she found what she found, could not, for all the world, be ignored. So she decided that she would research the matter of her suspect. Know as much about them as possible so as to ascertain a reason for their actions.

Which was why she found herself sneaking across campus in the middle of the night, thankful not to have run into any patrols. She couldn't, in good conscience, let Arthur, other MunkTechs or any corporate officers know what she was doing. They were busy with enough concerns without more to cogitate upon.

Jeanette rehearsed her con right up until she reached the main door intercom. She pressed the call button and took a deep breath.

"Yes,"answered the guard, his naturally high voice made buzzy from the speaker. Jeanette gulped as she detected an irritation to the voice that preceded it by a mile.

__

'Don't blow this'"Uh, I, uh, was sent to do some last minute...debugging of the computers in the labs?"

"Who are you and who sent you?"the guard asked in a huff.

"Who am I?"she repeated, though it sounded more like a genuine question. She was drawing a blank and was about to panic until she remembered again what she wore.

On her tunic was an identification plaque with the I.T.O. logo embossed. Beside the logo was an I.D code that belonged to her for the duration of her being a temporary MunkTech. The access she needed to get into the labs in secret was on her all along. Inwardly, she thanked Arthur.

"I'm MunkTech MT-0001,"she announced with some confidence. There was no response on the other end and nervousness tickled her stomach. She was wondering what to do next when she heard the main doors unlock.

"You can wait in the lobby until the computer confirms you, ma'am,"the voice tiredly squeaked from the 'com. Jeanette sighed relievedly and obeyed him.

She sat down on one of the scaled-down couches and watched him fiercely stare at the monitor, tap keys in frustration and look under the desk to pull and check line connections he couldn't hope to understand. She'd seen body language like that before, performed by Miss Miller and her sisters. She called it The Luddite's Limbo.

She also saw a way to help out that might help smooth things along, as well.

"Uh, sir,"she said,"I could help you with that. After all, I was sent here to do repairs."

"Yeah?"he asked, after he gave up trying."I tried to get off this screen and it just froze on me. If you can fix this, I'll really appreciated it."

She didn't need further coaxing to know that this was her cue. With a patient, sympathetic smile, she stood up."I'll see what I can do."

The guard gave Jeanette the floor while he stepped to the side and allowed her to work. _'This is easy, '_she thought, _'A reboot ought to do it.' _She reached around and turned off the computer and then turned it on again.

As the operating system came back to life, she distracted the guard with chit-chat."Yours isn't the only one having problems like this. Administration almost lost all of their files."

"Yeah?"

"Yep. I told them they shouldn't tie all of the computers into one network without having sufficient back-ups installed. But would they listen? No!"

"Bureaucrats!"the guard interjected."They think they know it all. I tell ya, if I.T.O. wasn't paying so good, I'd be over at DuPont in a shot."

"I hear you,"she agreed. Then something happened on the screen suddenly. One moment there was a menu and now there were windows popping up all over_. 'I must have clicked a file by mistake. I better clear it.'_

She moved the cursor to the on-screen option to "clear" when she scanned the foremost window inadvertently. On the screen, the words: Security Override Code:Denton-Ipswitch/7811,was displayed. For some reason she wanted to remember that. She always believed in wasting nothing and any information was important, especially now.

She cleared the screen and the homepage appeared again."Here you go. All done."

The guard looked impressed."Already? Boy! That was quick."

"It was nothing. It just needed to reboot, that's all."she said as she let the guard return to his terminal and she stood to the side, anxiously waiting.

The guard entered her code and waited. A tone came from its speakers. Then another, higher in register.

It was the second sound that shook her. Thoughts of _"Access Denied",_written in unmistakable finality across her digitized picture, flashed in her head.

"Okay, Jeanette,"he said officiously,"It says that you are a MunkTech...on temporary status, but you're a MunkTech."

"See?"

"The problem is that there's no confirmation of a work order stating that repairs are to be done here."

Jeanette fought back the panic of a failed plan and struggled to keep the con going. If it works for Alvin and Brittany..."Well, that's true, but only because..."_'Think, girl! Think!'_"Because...I _told _you, the computers were all tied into one network without enough back-ups. Even the phones were affected. There were no calls at all coming in or going out of Administration. They probably didn't get a chance to upload the work order to your station, that's all,"she answered breathlessly. _'I hope he buys it.'_

The Guard suddenly looked pained, like a mouse who ran amaze all his life and then suddenly ran into a new one. He was lost and looked it."Err, y'think so?"

Jeanette felt like a predator seeing weak prey."Oh, yes, sir,"she said in mock sincerity,"As long as we MunkTechs are on duty, we have to be alert to breakdowns. That's why Arthur Duval sent me personally to-"

"Mr. Duval? The boss's son? He sent you?"he sputtered.

"Yeah...I mean...Yes! It's a good thing your terminal's working now. I heard that he was doing a surprise inspection tomorrow. You might have been going to DuPont sooner than you thought,"she scolded conspiratorially.

"Well, then...I guess I owe ya then. Thanks,"he said with solemnity."Look, if you need to go to the labs, I'll let you in. I'll tell the other guard on patrol that you'll be upstairs."

Jeanette smiled at the guard, both in relief and ingratitude."Thank you, sir."

The office door opened slowly. A figure slipped in and silently scanned the interior, looking for any changes within. No one was present and everything was as last checked. Eyes zeroed in on the eyeglasses case on the desk intently, studiously, for several minutes. 

The figure then quickly heeled around and went to the door, satisfied. A fast glance down either end of the hall showed no one to watch the figure slipping away. 

Despite their infamy, or perhaps because of it, Jeanette didn't have to wait long for a search engine to find it. Some one hundred articles scrolled down the screen, all pertaining to the anti-Chipmunk hate group, Humanity's Hand. 

It disgusted her just to look at them, but she needed the research. She was positive that they were the ones that left what they left in the office.

Jeanette chose the first pertinent article. It was from an archive of police arrests from a nationwide crime database.

Those convicted, all Humans of varying ethnicities, an irony not lost to her, had been recorded saying such platitudes as_,"A good rodent's a dead one","Business as usual","Interspecies relationships are doomed to failure","Go back to the woods" _and _"Why not?"_

They were stopped by joint police and Interpol efforts in secret worldwide stings that halted, in one particular arrest, the wholesale kidnapping, killing, skinning and Black Market selling of Chipmunk pelts.

Jeanette felt ill immediately and returned to the list of articles. People say only Humans can be, by definition, inhumane. What these people, who dedicated their lives to this madness, did, defied definition. She thought that those who did that sort of thing didn't deserve living.

Then she caught herself at that moment, shocked. It was a dark opinion brought on by watching a dark Human deed and it turned her soul to stone momentarily. She shook her head to free herself of thoughts of indignation that came to life almost before she could control them.

She chose another. An autobiography of a Hand member listing secret atrocities committed by her and others in visceral detail. Shock made Jeanette hollow. 

She robotically chose another and another, her head and heart fighting a pitched battle. The former, championing Morbid Curiosity. The latter, Morality and Righteous Indignation.

Another one, showing a statistic of Urbanized Chipmunk deaths rising higher than Rural ones, with Humanity's Hand as a factor in the increase. Every article she speed-read was more painful than the last and each time she stomached another report, she began to feel an angry numbness, a black desire for an unanswered justice long overdue.

She clicked the mouse again, expecting another dire tale of uncalled-for persecution and unnatural death. What she got was HumanityHand.com.

"They have their own website,"she muttered despondently.

The terminal was equipped with a soundcard and a pair of speakers so Jeanette was treated to an audio presentation of friendly indoctrination.

"Greetings, fellow Human Beings. You have arrived at a most unique place,"said the happy voiceover,"Unique because this place is the doorway to a safe haven that we Humans have built _for_ Humans.

Say, wouldn't you and your loved ones like to live in a world where you didn't have to worry about rodents stealing the bread from you and your family's mouths...Where you didn't have to live near some disease carrying animal that happened to be smart enough to own a home or rent an apartment...Where your children didn't have to play or go to school or even date what is essentially vermin...Where you didn't have to share our rare, limited natural resources with pests..."

Jeanette felt a rage smoldering in her breast and had a look that could splinter steel.

"Then you need to join the hand of unity. The hand of strength. The hand of understanding...Humanity's Hand. Click below to enter, fellow Human!"

"Never!"She clicked back to the list and typed I.T.O. next to Humanity's Hand in the search bar. New articles detailing any and all dealings between the corporation and the hate group appeared.

As she read them, she thought to herself, _'Why are Humans doing this? We've done nothing to them. What are they afraid of? The cowards! I read population statistics. Urbanized and Rural Chipmunks are only twenty percent of America's population. We're not crowding anybody out. We're not a threat! We don't deserve this!'_

That last thought was spoken aloud and it surprised her. She never felt such anger. In her mind, she hardened her heart to _any _Human. Like emotional bullets, she used her hatred to cut them down in a flash. She wanted to do more than just to punish Humanity's Hand and any misguided enough to follow their banner, but she wanted to _see_ them punished. _Hear_ it happen. _Demand _that it happen.

She was reading a news article where an I.T.O. factory's entire staff survived a bomb threat when she jumped to another article further down about a kidnapping attempt gone wrong. Humanity's Hand abducted a shareholder, a major coup for them, and left his pocket watch behind as a message to the company.

Fortunately, the shareholder was rescued and it was learned by both Interpol and Federal Agents afterwards that leaving a message of retaliation in the form of a victim's personal effect was and still is the method of choice for Hand members.

"That's it!"Jeanette quickly made a print-out of the article and logged off the terminal. She went to the door, holding in her hand what she hoped would be proof that Humanity's Hand was somehow responsible for what she found in Arthur's office.

By what she saw and read about them on the Net, they were already responsible for taking her innocence away.

Grateful that she had a better memory than most, Jeanette disembarked form the elevator car after she entered the same button sequence Arthur used earlier. Watching him do it paid off. She was making a beeline for the office while her mind ran from one thought to the next. The need to tell Arthur about her dire news. The object in her pocket.

She rounded the vacant hall and reached the office. Knocking on the door made it sway open.

Unlocked. Jeanette stepped in again and looked around. Like last time, it was empty, but similarities ended there. She felt the odd notion that he was here before, earlier, and was soon given her first confirmation of that fact when she saw his leather chair out and away from the desk.

She sat down on it to rest and felt the residual warmth. 'He was here, all right,' she thought as she saw that the stationary on the desk was used and no longer in order.

Jeanette also spied two things that weren't on the desk when she first visited the place. A paperback novel was left open and lying spine-up to keep the current page. She nodded, impressed by the choice of book and yet felt a little dismayed by it, too. It was Machiellvelli's_,"The Prince"._

The second thing was a day planner opened to that day, now quickly ending since according to a wall clock in the office, it was 11:32PM.

What was written on it didn't take up a lot of space or make a lot of sense to her:"Visitation-12:30AM.P-cells Green."

"P-cells Green? What's that?"she asked herself. _'Maybe there's a medical lab on-site here and Arthur went there.' _she thought.

Looking around the desk for more clues, she saw that the eyeglasses case remained where she left it. She reached out to the day planner to turn another page for more information, but then suddenly froze in mid-motion at an unexpected sound from an unwelcome source.

The doorknob twitched and clicked and the door swung open for the guard on that particular patrol.

He was younger than the one in the Science Building and he looked straight in to the middle of the room.

He missed Jeanette by bare seconds. She huddled in the accommodating leg space under the wide desk, reminding herself that she would have a difficult time explaining to the sentinel why she was behind someone's desk in the middle of the night.

Despite the soft carpeting, being so low to the floor allowed Jeanette to hear every approaching, no-nonsense step as the guard circled the only place in the room that could conceivably hide someone. The desk.

She closed her eyes, riding on an adrenaline rush, as he stopped behind the desk. He leaned over and read the day planner aloud, chuckling to himself."What a show, down below,"he rhymed."Ah, well..."

Jeanette watched his knees bend, stooping to check below. Her heart fluttered fearfully. There was no way out.

She could see the head dip towards the leg space.

Then it stopped midway, the eyes still too high to see into the space. The squawk of his radio halted him just in time as Jeanette went stock-still.

"Yes, sir,"he said, standing."I was checking the offices when you called, sir...Another assignment? Yes, sir. I'm on my way."

He clicked off his radio, turned off the light and left the room quickly, muttering his best curses for bosses who couldn't make up their minds.

In the dark, Jeanette started to breathe again as she wondered what the guard meant by a "...show, down below".

She waited for ten minutes to make sure no patrols were still outside and then she left.

Various MunkTechs crawled, hung over or buried themselves inside The Predictor, making last minute checks to everything relevant. When Jeanette walked into the lab, it was a noisy, chaotic hive. No one stood still for more than two minutes at a time, making it hard for her to single out anyone for questions.

She watched the activity in frustration until two MunkTechs slowed down enough to notice her.

"Hey, we missed you, Jeanette!"called out the female MunkTech Jeanette met earlier.

"Yeah,"piped in her male companion,"How ya feelin'?"

"I'm better now, thanks,"she said as she approached them."I'm glad I ran into you."

"What's up?"he asked while quickly installing a motherboard. 

"Well, I need to find someplace. I'm looking for Arthur-I mean, Mr. Duval. I have to talk to him right away."

"I don't think any of us seen had him since he brought you here,"said the female technician,"He's the boss here and he pretty much comes and goes. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, have any of you heard of P-cells? Do you know anything about them?"

"Three levels down,"said the brunette MunkTech Supervisor who overheard in the doorway."Take the west elevator. Okay, people, we have to get this job done tout de suite."

She moved into the lab and disappeared into the busy crowds.

"Okay, Jeanette-"the female MunkTech started to say when she turned to face her again, but Jeanette was already through the doorway.

"Wonder why she wanted to go there?"she asked.

"Hope she's not in any trouble,"her companion fretted.

"Well, we better get back to work."

"Right."

She couldn't understand why she felt anxious outside a need to talk to Arthur about her suspicions. She hoped to find him soon, sleep was catching up with her.

Power walking past workers and guards in the hall, she arrived at the elevator. And gritted her teeth went she saw the "Out of Order" sign displayed on the doors.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she went to search for stairwells and after asking around, found the right one.

On the wall closest to the door when she entered, Jeanette saw a sign that read: 'Attention: due to last Tuesday's rainstorm, Maintenance has temporarily suspended power to a few services on the lower levels while repairs are in effect. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.'

Peering down the staircase, she noticed that it was almost dark on the floor she wanted. She descended the stairs as the levels grew dimmer and cooler.

Finally, she reached her floor and opened the door that led her to a dark hall cluttered with scaffolds, tools, cable, florescent light tubes and schematics of the level while Maintenance warning tape festooned the corridor like a crime scene.

The view was the same on the other side of the hall. On the wall across from her, Jeanette saw the words, 'P-cells Red and Yellow' and a directional glyph pointing to the left side and below that, 'P-cells Green' and its corresponding glyph pointing to the right.

Jeanette, relieved, headed right, carefully maneuvering through the work area. _'What could he possibly want to see down here?' _Jeanette thought as she neared a small guard's station consisting of a steel desk, a darkened security monitor, a lamp and a locked steel box bolted to the wall behind the desk.

Only the guard was missing. A few feet away from the station was a single green door which she tentatively opened. Below her was a metal winding staircase that spiraled slowly down into the dark. She began to hesitate, to think about _why_ she was here again, she wasn't too sure now.

"I'm just tired, that's all,"she whispered,"That's all."

Then she heard a faint echoing under her feet, like a voice, in the depths. Curiosity over rid her want to wait for Arthur in the relative safety of the defunct floor.

She stepped down as quietly as she could and her eyes, now accustomed to the very low illumination, could make out a small hall in the murk walled with single doors. The staircase ended almost on the other side of the hall, with the back of the hall dead-ending just behind the stairs, almost in complete shadow by it.

A figure could be seen in the distance, facing one of the doors at the extreme end of the corridor. A voice floated from that same location. Jeanette crept to the bottom stair and then circled around to the shadows behind it.

__

'Where's Arthur?' she anxiously thought as he tuned her sensitive ears to the speaker ahead.

Despite the flowing black of the all-concealing robe and the distance from her, the height and the timbre of the voice was unmistakable.

Arthur.

She prepared to go to him with her news and warnings. To protect him. Then she vaguely picked up what hew as saying. What she heard made her breath catch.

"I'm going to miss breaking your will with my own hands. I hate you and you're going to die soon. You see, I won. I have everything of yours. Your freedom, your life, your work. But that's irrelevant now. In good conscience, I must admit that you are a piece of work. Despite your interference in the organization's affairs, thanks to you and the incomparable Miss Miller, I.T.O. will wipe the Earth clean of the furless scum, the Humans, in a single death stroke. Their blackest hour will herald a Chipmunk Golden Age."

Jeanette didn't know who he was talking to, but it didn't matter. At that moment, she just wished that he whispered when he talked so she'd be mistaken about what she heard. Wished he were taller. Wished he was a woman. Wished he was Human. Wished he was anything but what he turned out to be.

Genocide wasn't something one boasted about committing unless one was a.)certifiable, b.)had the means to do it or c.)both.

"By the way, don't think that the vaunted Interpol will stop us. It took a couple of subliminally doctored videotapes to convince everyone close to you and her to have you both sent here. They certainly won't lose any sleep over the fact that they will never see you again."Arthur said breezily.

He turned to leave, but then stopped for a final say."You're smart enough, at least, not to think of escaping. You'd need the code and it changes everyday. And don't worry about Jeanette. She loves me. I'll see to that. My love and my technology will erase you from her heart just like my technology will erase you from the Earth. Death to Humanity!"

Jeanette felt more confused than outraged, but that would pass, she was sure. Fear and guilt would be along any time. Her head tried to make sense of it all, but her heart already knew everything now.

That what she found in Arthur's office had nothing to do with Humanity's Hand. That, in spite of their evil, Humanity's hand was essentially blameless in all of this. That because she was woefully naive and on the rebound, this techno-Hitler used her and anyone else to help bring Humanity into its twilight. That she couldn't love him. _Would not _love him. Ever.

__

'Death to Humans? Kill Humans? Miss Miller? Dave? And I'm helping to bring it about! Wh-Why is he...Why is he...'

Jeanette had to lean into the shadowed wall for support, burying herself in the darkness. Fainting would only give her away. As Arthur approached the staircase, he though the saw movement ahead and so he slowed down.

The blackness stared back at him silent, immutable and unforgiving. He saw nothing and slowly ascended the steps, his robes trailing behind him like a dark sea.

Jeanette grimly stepped out of the shadows and watched the top of the stairs for his return that, thankfully, never came. She headed off towards the door Arthur left. _'P-cells,' _she thought, _'Prison cells.' _As she neared, Jeanette wondered what Arthur meant about Interpol. An agent perhaps.

"Siseman? Kuomo?"she called out quietly in the hall. She figured if any agent would be assigned a case involving Chipmunks, it might have been the two agents that were sent to capture her, her sisters and their boyfriends on The Furstein Case years ago."Did Inspector Jamal sent you?"

__

"Jeanette?!"

"Simon?!"

She leapt at the steel door, looking and feeling for the lock.

"It's electronic,"Simon said weakly. The only features she could access were the light switch that lit the cell's interior, a food panel below and an open, barred port at eye-level for face-to-face communication and ventilation.

"Simon?"Jeanette pulled and pushed at and reached through the bars to touch his face, to know he was really here.

She could see into the cell, although the dim illumination only reached from the door to the center of the cell and Simon wasn't seen.

She heard a shuffle of movement in a dark corner and then Simon walked out to her. Her heart cracked when she saw him.

His tuft was dry and disheveled, the natural oils that held his hairs together in a dreadlock-like arrangement were absorbed by dirt and dust. Blood caked in patches in the fur of his face and head next to the accompanying bruises and cuts.

He wasn't wearing his glasses, making the black eye all the more noticeable. His clothes, like him, were dirty, bloody and torn.

"What happened,"she almost screamed in the dark.

"The great and powerful Duval,"he said sarcastically."That's what happened."

Jeanette was grateful that he couldn't read her mind. The guilt and self-loathing would have made him catatonic.

She hated herself more than she hated Arthur. She couldn't believe how trusting and gullible she was, falling in love with someone who thought the way he thought and did the things he did, for a goal that was as malevolent as Humanity's Hand's. A goal she unwittingly jumped into with both feet. A goal she indirectly endorsed by her earlier feelings about Humans in general after seeing that reprehensible web site.

"I was no better..."she whispered with a bitter sob.

"What did you say, Jeanette?"

"Uh, nothing. Nothing. What did he do?"

He felt like a youngster of eight or nine again, telling Dave about a bad dream. He blew out a nervous breath."They wanted information on components I developed. Like my Capacitor Conveyor, my Temporal Micro-pulse Disruption Generator and my Visual Continuum Stabilization Circuit. They needed to know how to make them, but they never told me why. They just kept me in the dark, no pun intended. I refused to talk when I suspected that their intentions were less than noble, so they interrogated me."

"Did they hurt you,"Jeanette asked tensely.

"Not at first. First they simply questioned me. When that didn't work, they injected me with Truthex, but my will eventually beat it,"he said tiredly.

Jeanette knew what came next."So they...tortured you?"

"Duval did. He beat-"Simon's confession choked him. He couldn't understand why telling this to Jeanette would hurt him so. She could certainly come to that self same conclusion herself just by looking at him, but the image, even a mental one, of his strength being stripped away with every unanswered blow, was galling to him."I...I broke."

It felt like a mound of ash in his mouth confessing that. Jeanette could see the turmoil in his steel-gray eyes and mercifully changed the subject."Well, how did you get here? We're on an island."

"Well, when I was following you and Duval to that party-"

"Following?"Jeanette asked with noting irritation. _'No trust,' _she assessed."You were following me?"

"So? _You _were the one who didn't want to see me again."

"You know, I _can _take care of myself!"

For a moment, he just stared at her uniform, which, he had to admit, tugged in interesting places, and then formed his own opinion on the subject."Judging by your attire, I'd say _Duval_ is the one taking good care of you."

She felt like she was in a slow nightmare. Shocked, tired, homesick, heartbroken, guilty and betrayed. And now this again. She had enough."You know, Simon? You give jealous stalkers a bad name."

"Jealous? About what, Jeanette?"he asked incredulously,"Gallivanting all over town with Mr. Perfect?"

"Is that what you call it? Boy! You just can't stand for anyone to have a good time, can you?"Jeanette was getting louder with each new sentence, not caring if anyone on the island could hear her."Why don't you just admit it, Simon? Somehow, you're unhappy inside and you have to have everyone else hating Life, too. It's not Alvin or Brittany that you can't understand-"

"What?"he sputtered as he leaned against the door to rest."What are you talki-"

"But their love of _Life_!"she charged him with a vigor that was waning fast. She needed sleep badly."And as for me? _Ha! _I'm as disruptive to your little world as I could possibly get. I'm smart _and_ a little free-spirited!"

"That's not...I-I didn't-"

"I must be poison to you,"she said with quiet pain. Putting her hands to her face to self-consciously hide the tears and rub the tension away that settled there, Jeanette listened painfully for his rebuttal. The silence was powerful. He said nothing.

After two minutes of peace, she wearily spoke up to the door."I didn't know what he was like, Simon. I-I'm trying to figure all of this out."

Simon was on the floor, sitting by the door. The recent beating, the conditions there, took a costly toll from him. Fighting with Jeanette again, however, drained him and hurt him far more than he was ready for.

He rested and listened to her soft, lilting voice, taking strength from its familiarity and its connections of home. He felt like a thief, stealing something he neither earned or deserved.

"I'm sorry they did this to you and I'll...I'll try to get us out of here. I promise, okay?"she affirmed through the door. He still said nothing, his mind, a emotional muddle.

"When I found these in Duval's office, I thought you were kidnapped by someone else to get to him or me. Here,"she slipped something through the food panel and it sat beside him on the floor. Simon was speechless.

"I think you need these a lot more than Duval does."

He picked up her gift. Yes, he _would_ call it a gift. He thought he'd never see them again and the moment he slowly, reverently, put his glasses back on his face, he could see clearly again.

But not the way he used to. No. He saw the frames still wet from her tears, felt the warmth of her body on them, smelled her scent, the same scent that he remembered back at the dinner, the scent of a young female blossoming into a strong, beautiful adult, felt the inner power of someone he _thought_ he knew a long time ago.

She was still trying to do right, even after her betrayal by Arthur. Still caring for _him, _even after their fight. Still caring.

He called out to her and heard nothing. He called again.

"She's gone,"came a feminine voice from the next cell.

"She's gone,"he repeated in a whispered dread.

The finality of those hurt worse than the torture. He ached to have her back by the door again, just to hear her.

Not since the moment of his birth had he felt so blind and alone.

"I missed you last night."

"I guess we kind of missed each other...I guess,"she said.

"Busy last night?"

"Yes."

"I know I was. I'm sorry I didn't call you or anything."

"That's okay."

"Are you all right, Jeanette? You barely touched you breakfast."

"Not hungry, I guess."

She was starving in the midst of plenty as the cafeteria went through its typical morning rush of activity. She barely noticed the hungry campers or her food. Just the truth, Or parts of it. Last night seemed surreal to her and something in her wanted to distance herself from all of it. To ignore it and press on with the lie.

Taking a glance at Arthur, sitting across from her, disintegrated that notion with a vengeance. Her stomach twisted with a buried, smoldering hate for him. His kind, which she admitted she didn't even know existed, would be an embarrassment beyond measure to their people.

And worse, if Humans ever realized what Chipmunks like him were capable of, then the somewhat stable relationship between Chipmunks and Humans would crumble and the Earth's first major interspecies war might become a hellish reality.

That she might be an _integral part _of such a history frightened her more than what she knew what she had to do to prevent it. But Jeanette made up her mind in bed after seeing Simon last night to do something. Anything.

That only left Simon. However she may have felt about him, she couldn't leave him to die in an anonymous jail in the middle of the ocean, but how to get him and herself free didn't even process in her mind.

Trying to learn more about I.T.O. ,the real one, and what she was working on, was first priority, but with her emotions about Simon and Arthur interfering with even the most basic strategy, that was becoming too difficult.

"You really ought to eat something."

"I'm fine,"she said robotically.

"Well,"he smiled, changing the subject,"You'll not have to worry about today, or any other day, actually. The MunkTechs told me last night that, thanks to you, The Predictor will be ready. You can take it easy for the rest of the vacation, lucky you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I have to be there when it's done, to check the software. Make sure the operating system is running smoothly."

"I understand."Then a spark, a flash of inspiration hit the dark corners of her besieged mind. An opening in the trap. With a slowly growing grin, she said,"You know, I think I _will _take your advice and take it easy today. Maybe visit the Observatory or the Science Museum. Will _you_ be okay?"

"I'll be fine, Jeanette. You have a good time, though. I want to know that you're having fun here."He looked at her with such sincerity that she had to glance away nonchalantly. He was in love with her, she had no doubt, but her heart died in that dark hall last night.

A beeping was faintly coming from his sweater pocket. He pulled out an intricate device the size of a poker chip.

"Latest design. The TeleChip,"he explained. He looked at the tiny screen for a moment, then stood up."They want me at the testing facilities. They just finished a few new products and they need my approval. I'll see you later, then?"

"Later, then,"she grinned with silent disgust as he gave her a peck on the cheek and left.

After wiping her cheek with a napkin and depositing her trash, she left the cafeteria and headed for the one place on campus she felt remotely secure.

"MunkTech Maintenance Access Code accepted, Miller, Jeanette. Have a productive day,"intoned the synthesized voice over her secured headset.

There were others in the VR Lab, but no one could see what anyone else was doing in the virtual environments unless they were tandem for group gaming. Fortunately, the lab assistant, the only one who could monitor everyone in every game running, was engaged in lively conversation with a young, female Chipmunk teen.

Through her filtered visor, Jeanette's virtual "hands" manipulated glowing service icons and telecommunication links that floated in the dark, utilitarian 3-D of a low security maintenance sector of the island's computer network.

She wistfully wished she had this system when she was working on The Predictor's software, it made things a lot easier. She brushed aside a floating folder of repair logs and spoke a command in her headset, conjuring up a list of general files and folders, one of which read:' Classical Music Library'.

She snatched it with glowing "hands"and opened it, selecting one of her favorite pieces. In the falsely chamber-like environment, the strong passionate beginnings of Greig's Piano Concerto in G minor resonated all around.

Calling up a search function, she entered Arthur's name. Immediately, Grieg ended and was replaced by a booming, disorienting vocal track_."Attention, Miller, Jeanette, you are not cleared by I.T.O. Security to access Duval, Arthur. Please desist. Thank you."_The music then continued.

"So much for that,"she muttered.

The Predictor Lab was beginning to look like a fully-functioning facility again, instead of looking like the aftermath of a terrorist bombing. Panels were closed, terminals were humming with purpose and The Predictor itself was closed up and immaculate.

MunkTechs still tuned and prepped and checked status systems, but there were fewer of them, now that the final preparations could safely be made.

Jeanette, soon after, accessed the I.T.O. intranet site from her location.

It was surprisingly easy to do and a little strange from her perspective to see the web site's homepage looming over, around and under her in a fish eyed, three-hundred and sixty degree panorama.

Pointing at the large link leading to Corporate History, she was caught in the illusion of velocity, as a VR compatible environment, the simulacrum of a stately gallery formed around her. Large portraits in lifelike detail lined the ornate wooden walls. Male and female, all, were reasonably elderly or getting there.

A cultured Chipmunk voice floated in her ears.

__

"International Technological Operations, or I.T.O., was started in 1902 as a growing steel spring company by Roget Duval, the adopted son of Webster Duval, a French industrialist, whose public adoption of a Chipmunk was, at the time, controversial and was unfavorably looked upon by his shareholders and the Business world, in general.

Taking over his foster father's company after the severe walkout of Webster's entire staff and executives and his subsequent death under unexplained circumstances, Roget then staffed the entire company with his people, bringing prosperity to both Rural and Urbanized Chipmunks who flocked to him and causing an uproar in the Business Community with the world's first Chipmunk-owned and staffed company, which received record sales during the height of World War I and II."

"Attention: Interface Error detected in Number Eight Processor. Replace immediately,"The Predictor intoned to the workers during its testing run.

Chaos resumed and The Predictor's distress spread to the other terminals serving it. And to others that currently weren't...

The walls began to shimmer and Jeanette's perspective wavered abruptly. The voiceover stuttered, slurred and unraveled into garbled static.

In the VR Lab, she tensed at the change, mentally preparing herself for anything.

A window sprang into existence ahead of her. A single icon of a brown book with a black silhouette of tree in its center was displayed in the window's center. The voiceover returned_."Welcome honored guest! You have been granted access to I.T.O. Deep File: History. Please click the icon to learn about us."_

Quickly, she tapped the icon and the world changed again.

"System nominal. Resuming Test Mode,"said Predictor as it and all the other terminals returned to cybernetic sanity.

All the MunkTechs present breathed a sigh of unfathomable relief, oblivious to the error that escaped and did its damage before it was eliminated by Predictor's and the terminals' safeguards.

She walked leisurely through a shaded glade. Here and there, Jeanette could see interspersed with the young, strong trees, homes either built within the living heartwood or spreading up and out through the canopies.

No surprise registered with her on seeing this. She and her sisters owned such a home, which resided in the city's largest park back home. Although they live with Miss Miller now, occasionally they would still use the home whenever privacy was needed. In fact, she had seen other Chipmunk homes in either configuration before. She always marveled at their synthesis of architecture and horticulture.

She looked down at a flashing object in the grass. It was a gauntlet next to a broken arrow. She followed the trail of their position on the ground and soon exited onto a wide clearing, bright with sun.

Dominating the vista was a gathering as regal as it was solemn. Chipmunks were dressed in a type of ceremonial or official garb that she never saw before and were separated by a respectable distance from another group of Chipmunks whose attire Jeanette was all too familiar with.

Black robed male and female adults and children stared defiantly at the Chipmunks at the head of the procession.

The voiceover floated once more in her ears.

__

"It started with a wisdom too clear to be discounted but too feared by those who were blinded by the novelty of a union with those that enslave us all."

The most ornately dressed Chipmunk pointed to the hills beyond the forest. When the black-robes didn't move as requested, the bulk of that Chipmunk's group, armed soldiers, slowly began to flank around every side of the black-robes except the side leading to the hills. Gradually, the dark group filed out of the opening made by the soldiers.

__

"We are the Iron Tree Organization. Born in exile when we lived under our first name. A name given to us by The Council of The First Fruit when our cause was known and thwarted. The Council of Traitors_._

We were vilified and whispered about, a group of disenfranchised diplomats, scientists and advisors. But we knew what others ignored. That the newly-discovered Human Race was not eager for union, but was, in fact, eager for conquest.

To protect our people from their own folly, we have dedicated our skills and at times, our lives, to subjugate or annihilate the furless enemy. To this end, we have desperately sought and continue to seek The EverSpring Archive, our people's chronicle. Within its many pages lies the secrets of a weapon that, if wielded correctly, could strike down any non-Chipmunk life.

Centuries pass, fortunes are gained and lost and yet our banner still flies. We are the masters of technology, the kings of industry. And with your allegiance and support, brave Chipmunk, the Human threat will come to pass and we will enjoy a Golden Age unequalled."

The landscaped shifted and in its place was a gallery of mirrors. For once, Jeanette could see herself in the VR environment. She was chilled at the sight.

All around her were near-infinite reflections of herself wearing a flowing, black gown with a light purple sash and an elegant black headdress. Around the choker collar rested a silver necklace adorned with a matching tree silhouette pendant.

__

"Embrace your destiny,"the voiceover whispered in conclusion.

She left the lab three minutes later.

The Predictor Lab was as hushed as a grave. Only the hum of disc drives sounded freely in the chamber.

MunkTechs formed two lines leading from the doors to The Predictor.

The doors opened. Arthur strode in imperiously, flanked by two older males in tailored suits. He didn't stop until he faced the machine.

"Voice Command Interpret,"he told it.

"Acknowledged, Field Executive Duval."

He smiled.

With her glasses off to minimize being recognized by Arthur, Jeanette willed herself not to be seen while she stood in the section of the line closest to the computer and him.

Arthur seemed too enraptured about something to be observant, so she closed her eyes to lessen the eyestrain and listened to what he was up to.

"Given all global historical data, general recorded Chipmunk/Human interaction and all Fine Arts and Manuscript trade, both legal and illegal, beginning from the last known or recorded sighting of The EverSpring Archive,March3,1360,where would The Archive be found today?"he asked calmly yet expectantly.

Everyone held their breath.

"Stand-by,"it said."Checking all global databases."The hum of the satellite terminals rose in pitch."Activating Temporal-Spatial Perception Matrix. Timeline Probability Computation Mode, on-line. Stand-by."

From beneath the room was heard a slowly rising, roaring howl of machinery best explained by theoretical physicists than computer engineers. It steadied into a rhythmic humming that made the proceedings feel more supernatural than technological. Arthur was still grinning like an idiot, all the same.

"Matrix fields at 82% coherence and clearing,"it said and Jeanette opened her eyes to look up at The Predictor, a growing sense of recognition was hitting hard. It was like she was looking at a new version of an old toy or game or something complex yet familiar.

'What does Predictor's operations have to do with temporal-'Jeanette's eyes couldn't have opened wider with remembrance or shock. The pieces were falling into place so fast, she almost kicked herself for not seeing it before.

She had seen this computer, this machine...this _time_ machine, before. In the cellar of Simon's home in its crude original form of jury-rigged and kit-bashed components and housing.

The computer matrix to a time machine he never completed. And still it worked when Alvin needed to know the future events of two then present choices he was forced to choose from that day.

It scanned all local Space-Time and then when that yielded nothing, it scanned alternate time, itself, using the local timeline's probability to guide in its search for the timeline that fit most favorably with the probability calculation given, which all depended greatly on the _choices or course _of action given to the computer.

__

'Genius,' she thought back. _'No wonder they call it The Predictor. It's the ultimate crystal ball. That's why they tortured Simon.' _She felt shaken by the thought of his torment and fought to get rid of the image.

She glanced hard at his tormentor. _'The computer broke down when Simon used it the last time. Maybe I.T.O. found out where he hid the intact remains and put it together via reverse engineering _partially_. They needed him to rebuild those components that didn't survive the meltdown.'_

"Event found,"Predictor intoned as the monitor above them showed real images of World History as it happened and as it related to the matter at hand. Much as the original showed images of The Chipmunks and The Chipettes both in a timeline where they grew up and enjoyed the fruits of their family lives and individual achievements and in another where they lived on the very edge of destitution. True uni-directional visual interface with alternate space-time.

It continued."Based on the totality of all recorded history and general recorded interaction between Chipmunks and Humans, pertaining to and/or affecting the previous location of The EverSpring Archive in this current timeline, the highest probable location of The Archive, barring any current modifications to said timeline, is the city of Venice, Italy. Approximate time of transplantation to Venice from last known or recorded sighting of The Archive: July 5,1612."

For a moment, Arthur just grinned. Then he lifted his head and howled."I knew it! I knew she could do it! I love you, girl!"Jeanette ignored the compliment, though she blushed fiercely in spite of it.

"Where in Venice, Predictor?"he asked.

"Further computations must be made before a _determination_ can be made. Approximate time to determination:12 hours. Time is now 9:23AM.Timeline Probability Computational Mode, on-line."

Arthur turned to the MunkTechs."Ladies and Gentlemunks, you have surpassed yourselves. Surpassed yourselves. The Iron Tree Organization is truly in your collective debt and your next paychecks will most certainly reflect this. I thank you."

The applause swelled like a wave behind Jeanette as she slipped out of the lab.

__

'They found The Archive,' she thought, sitting in a commissary a floor below the lab. _'But instead of triumph, it'll be a disaster.'_

She had satisfied her curiosity in discovering what she was working on and the truth of the world she was now in. Now, she was working on how to escape to prevent that world from superceding the present one.

__

'How do I get Simon and myself out of here? I can't fool Security again. Not to do this.'

Security.

__

'I need to think.' Jeanette watched two guards leaving their table, chatting. She paid them no mind.

Guards.

__

'Maybe I could hack my way into Security...No, I lucked out and barely squeaked by to get what I know about them now.'

Computers.

__

'Maybe...no.' One of the guards trotted back to their table and picked up the keys he left.

Keys.

Jeanette couldn't concentrate, so she walked out of the room. _'Too many distractions in there,' _she thought.

__

Security. Guards. Computers. Keys.

She almost screamed when it hit her.

"It appears that these vents are not for ventilation, after all,"Simon said, smelling the small grates on the floor.

The synthetically sweet, almond odor was not unknown to him. He worked around enough laboratories and chemistry sets to know what cyanide smelled like. Yet what he smelled was only the residue built up on the mesh not the gas itself, which meant that these cells were used before and often. And would be used again soon.

Arthur reclined deeply in his chair, drinking in the moment. His cunning and leadership were put to the test and now everything he worked for and wanted was soon to be his. The Archive, Simon's death and Jeanette's devotion. Prizes to be savored, indeed.

He clicked on his desk intercom."Security, sent someone to find Jeanette Miller, please. She should be somewhere on campus. When you find her, escort her here to my office. Thank you."

All that was left to do now was to dispatch Simon Seville. As a rival for Jeanette's feelings, having "Simple"Simon put to death gratified him to no end.

Simon looked at the once open port, now sealed with a pane of Plexiglas that came down a moment ago.

An airtight barrier that afforded a view could only be Arthur's idea, he figured. No doubt to see the last of him, privately and up-close.

Although he couldn't see down the hall, he suddenly saw shadow play on the doors across from his cell.

"Courage, Seville,"came the voice from next door. Obviously she saw something he hadn't yet and from the choice of words...

The silhouette of a figure could be seen moving in front of the door. Then a sound came from the floor and Simon couldn't help seeing his life fast forwarding in his mind.

Despite his pessimism at times, he focused on every bright moment he could recall. He never really thought about his own mortality, save when he ran into Klaus and Claudia Furstein. But he wouldn't give Arthur a show.

That would be his pay back to him. He would leave the Earth with defiance. And a regret.

The yellowish vapor crawled long the floor, gracefully deflected off walls and skipped and jumped higher and higher and a determined voice outside droned in the hissing noise, like a chant. Like someone goading something to happen...

The door swung open and Simon leapt out and closed it back before any more of the killing mist escaped. He looked at whoever saved him and couldn't speak when it was Jeanette. He couldn't believe her so determined to do what she did, to pull him from the brink...like an angel. Like an angel. He stared at her as though seeing her for the fist time. Then he remembered.

"Whoa! Get her out!"he yelled as he ran to the next cell. Jeanette followed him to the door and inputted a code in the cell door keypad."How did you do that?"he asked her.

"One of the perks of being a MunkTech,"she answered, somewhat coldly.

The door swung out and the two were knocked down by a fast moving body. They jumped up and slammed the door, then looked down the hall towards the winding stair that the figure would surely use to escape.

The two saw the body slip through a dark open door that seemed to appear in the shadows of the stairs. Once it closed, the wall behind the stairs looked the way it did when Jeanette went there the first time.

"A secret emergency door?"Jeanette observed, as she handed Simon a shirt, pair of shorts and a full backpack. She was similarly dressed and she walked to the wall.

While he quickly changed, she began to feel along the wall for seams, buttons or panels. Everywhere she ran her hands, she only felt more wall. Time was of the essence. They had to escape now, while The Powers that Be continued to think they were dispatching prisoners.

She heard Simon coming up behind her and so turned to face him. She was about to ask him if he was strong enough to try and sneak through the headquarters and reach the elevators when her foot stepped on a protuberance on the floor. The door almost hit her from behind. They soon disappeared in the safety of the dark.

Arthur answered the 'com."Yes?...Have you checked the Observatory and the Museum?...The VR Lab?...Well, keep looking for her. It's important that I see her."He pressed another button on the 'com's panel.

"Interrogation, please. I'll wait...Hello, Duval here. Please have the prisoners in Green Section prepped for termination. I'll be there shortly to view the proceedings...What do you mean it happened already? _By whose authority?!..."_

He left the room like a shot.

They saw no chance of following the figure, so great a lead she had on them, so they held hands and walked through the dark tunnel.

Something in Simon wanted to thank her a million times over for the rescue, but he sensed a frosty distance in her. Even though she saved them, it seemed like she did it for no other reason than they were simply someplace they shouldn't have been and she got them out. No fanfare. No explanations.

At least it seemed that way. He knew that he was the reason. He and Arthur hurt her in their own ways. He couldn't even remember why he was so pig-headed, but he was sure that Jeanette would remind him if he didn't remind himself.

"Come on, there's the exit,"she said. He hadn't noticed that he could see the walls now, illuminated with the blue tint of the outdoors and feel a cool wind on his face, until she spoke. He thought she wouldn't say anything to him again. That possibility still existed.

Although Simon didn't know where he was, Jeanette was surprised to find that they emerged from the side of an obelisk that decorated the rear of the Science Building. Glancing about, they found no trace of the first escapee and the area was deserted, but voices could be heard from the front.

The duo sneaked along the side of the building and looked out onto the Quad. A group of campers wearing the same gear as Simon and Jeanette were preparing to leave the campus for a nature hike along a western trail that skirted the unexplored territory further west.

They asked among the group when they reached them and were told as much. The trail boss gave the signal and soon the group plus two marched off-campus.

"You already have the information, Arthur. There's no need to be sadistic in killing a fellow Chipmunk,"said the first robed one in the meeting room."If he was guilty at all, it was for his loyalty to the Human, David Seville, not because he loved a Chipmunk that _you_ now desire."

Arthur's eyes were lidded with a patience that the two robed figures were finding hard to figure out. Like he was privy to the punch line of a very dangerous joke and wasn't about share it that knowledge.

"Do you know that chipmunks, ordinary chipmunks, are not as cute as Humans like to believe? They are fiercely opportunistic, independent and territorial. When they want a thing, they reach for it. He was my rival and I had the right to defeat him."

"We are not so feral. We have risen above The Instinct. You are not what we once were. Remember this. And remember that we are The Roaming and answer to your father, not his surviving son,"the second said darkly.

"Attend to your tasks and recover The Archive. Time grows short,"said the first and with that the two rose from their chairs and walked out.

Arthur sat quietly in the dark while his heart raged like a demon.

Simon kept his silence while Jeanette engaged in lively banter with other hikers to pass the time from the walk.

He didn't want to say anything that might tip the tension meter to the red, so he absorbed the environment, his senses working overtime to make up for lost time in that dungeon.

Arthur entered his office in time to answer the intercom's buzz."Yes?"he said irritably."You found her?...Where is she?...Hiking? Wait, I'm getting another call."He pressed another button.

"Yes?...Green Section, that's right,"he said dejectedly."Dispose of the...What?! There _has _to be bodies down there! Those doors were electronically locked!!!"he screamed.

Everything felt like a trap sprung around him. Disappointment after disappointment. _'If_ _those two worms took him away...' _he fumed and dashed a pencil holder down on his desk. It ricocheted and knocked his eyeglasses case to the carpet.

He went around to find it and noticed it open and empty. Quickly, he looked under the desk and all over the floor for Simon's glasses that he was keeping as a trophy. The floor was bare and he began to think frantically.

__

'Simon's gone, his glasses_ are missing and Jeanette not h...here.' _He almost laughed, it seemed too absurd. But the clues screamed at his ego, turned it inside out. He walked back to the 'com, stunned.

"Is there any way to reach the trail boss?"

They slipped away from the group easy enough after the hour and a half long walk. Jeanette figured that they were far enough away from them to continue westward where no Chipmunk or Human presence was established yet on the island.

"Are you sure this where we're to go?"Simon hazarded a question.

"Yes, Simon,"she said with no real emotion."They haven't explored the western side of the island. We should be safe for awhile."Then she took a drink from her canteen.

"Very well,"he conceded coldly. Then he caught himself. Playing the Cold Shoulder game wasn't going to do anything but make an emotionally bad situation worse, but he was tiring of the psychological snipes she was giving him. If only...

His reverie was broken by Jeanette's scream from off to the side. A slightly heavy-set male in hiking gear, the trail boss, quickly stepped around the tree he was hiding around.

What the teenagers noticed the most about him was the disc shaped device on his shirt collar, which Jeanette recognized as one of Arthur's Telechips, and the inverted H-shaped weapon he was brandishing.

"No stragglers on my hike, you two,"he quipped as he approached the two."I got a call from Mr. Duval personally, to bring you two back. Imagine. A personal call from the boss's son. I guess if you live right, things just work out, huh?"

Simon's nerves were on edge immediately. If he returned to Arthur, there was no coming back .He'd lose his life and Jeanette in a single, fatal action. He'd rather die in the woods...or buy Jeanette time to escape!

He was closest to Simon when he made his decision and his move. With one hand, Simon deflected the gun arm away and while the trail boss raise his other hand to deliver a devastating haymaker, Simon delivered a sudden and surprising kick in the groin.

Winded and doubled over, he stumbled back to the tree. Jeanette instinctively ran to Simon, checking for injuries and not thinking about her attitude of him earlier. Concern over rid everything that happened to them all those weeks ago.

Instinct controlled the trail boss, as well. He couldn't return without them and so decided to make the capture easier by elimination.

He swiftly, but unsteadily drew the gun to Simon's direction. Jeanette's peripheral vision caught the movement.

"Look out!"she yelled as she leapt the rest of the way in front of him and in desperation, threw her canteen at the shooter to throw off his aim.

He squeezed the trigger and the bi-level barrel emitters, once a dull orange, turned a bright blue and a small lightning stroke fire hosed out, forks eagerly spread for conductive contact.

Some of the foremost forks touched Jeanette's side, which stunned her so badly, she didn't even cry out. The rest of the charge narrowly missed Simon's head although the passing of it made the fur on the side of his face stand.

The canteen hit the trail boss's chest and water gushed, covering his torso, arms and hands."This time, I won't miss. Goodbye, Seville."

He pulled the trigger of the now wet gun and didn't have time to regret it as the entire power pack discharged into his wet, conductive body. Only when the gun's innards began to flame, did Simon realize that both the gun and its wielder were finished. And he didn't care.

He knelt beside her, gently turning her over to keep the weight off the burn. He carefully lifted her shirt from the side. The fabric had a scorched slit and beneath it, a burned scar about three inches long furrowed. The creamy fur above it was vaporized, but the burn wasn't deep, thankfully.

Simon found an antiseptic ointment in his bag and gingerly applied it, grateful that it also was analgesic for the pain.

Jeanette started to stir as he finished bandaging a large gauze pad to the wound."What happened?"

"Patrols will be coming soon,"he said while bringing her to her feet."Can you walk?"

"I'll be fine,"she said weakly. Then she glanced at the body in the distance."Is he dead?"

"I'm afraid so. We better go."

"Wait! Get that."She pointed at the corpse.

"What?"

"The disc on his collar is a communicator. We'll need it."

"Okay."He went to the trail boss and not-so-eagerly removed the device. It almost felt like a desecration. Almost.

With the device and the trail boss's pack in hand and Jeanette leaning on him, Simon hastily vanished into the island woodlands.

Moving more on intuition and adrenaline, they covered a little over a mile deep inside the western interior, but Simon noticed that Jeanette was faltering with every step, making it hard for him to carry her and the extra gear that could give them that much more of an edge. The sudden smell of water brought back his resolve and he pressed on.

They came to a tree-lined bank that opened below a thin rushing cataract. With her last bit of strength, Jeanette shook off her pack and went limp in Simon's hold.

He dropped his cargo of packs and carried her to the edge of the bank. Laying her down, he checked her vitals. Her breathing was slow and shallow and her heartbeat lost some of its speedy, healthy rhythm.

"Jeanette. Jeanette!"He lightly slapped her face but nothing happened. The electrical attack did more damage than suspected.

Simon sprinkled cold water from the waterfall's pool on her face to revive her. The water ran down her cheeks like tears but nothing happened.

Panic festered in him. He knew all about First Aid, but he couldn't access the memory because of his frustration. His fear raced unchecked with the frightening possibility that he couldn't save her life. He looked at her again, watching, willing for Life to take her up again. She was so still, that if he wasn't watching her chest rise slightly for breathing, he'd have thought all was lost for her.

First the break-up, then the jealousy, the kidnapping and the torture. Now after rescuing him, she would die in this place as decreed by Fate. His heart couldn't bear it any more. Not having her in his life was an inner hell he could not withstand.

Fearful tears fell, his cool, intellectual demeanor evaporating in his sorrow.

"I'm sorry...Jeanette. I'm sorry. I was so wrong to be that way to you."He cradled her head in his arms and cried in her dark hair. He didn't care how he looked. He just needed to do that, to purge his soul of all of his pain and just tell her everything he needed to say...before the end.

"I can't believe I let my ego get the better of me like that. You were right...I _was_ acting like Alvin. I was..._am_ insecure,"he sobbed bitterly."All my life I tried to be as smart as I could. The more intelligent I became, the more infallible I thought people would see me. If the other kids in school teased me, I could have still have _some _sense of worth from the adults. Dave, Miss Miller, teachers. But what good is being smart...if I use it as a weapon. Against you. I'm...sorry, Jeanette."

He barely felt a hand brush his cheek. He opened his red eyes with a start and looked down at Jeanette smiling weakly up at him."I...heard everything, Simon."

"You..."

"When I found out about Arthur last night, I was so...heartbroken...that I didn't think I wanted to wake up."

"I..."

"Until... I heard you just now."She locked her emerald eyes into his steel-gray ones with an intensity that consumed him with their depth."Tell me you _meant _it, Simon,"she pleaded.

He opened his heart and said,"I do."Tears rolled off his cheeks to mix with hers.

"Come here."Jeanette whispered, secure in his firm arms.

Simon leaned his face towards hers and felt a hand gently pull his head closer, until his whole being joyously surrendered to the longest, sweetest kiss Jeanette's heart could make.


	4. Chapter Four

__

Chapter Four

The afternoon sun's rays shafted clearly through the French windows of the uppermost office of the Administration Building. Arthur was its sole occupant, watching the bustling campus below and the green, wild vista beyond for any sign of Jeanette.

His Jeanette.

His heart and mind welcomed the quiet. Too much was happening beyond his control and that both angered him and put him on edge. He couldn't let his father think that he was ineffectual as a Field Executive. Through determination and craft, he attained that position. He would _retain_ it that selfsame way. Security would find them soon enough and if it needed some extra help to get the job done, he would be happy to oblige. Especially where Simon was involved. His demise, Jeanette's devotion and the recovery of The Archive was all that mattered.

He wished he knew where they were.

The bank was a godsend. The thick canopy kept the campsite hidden and access to fresh water was easily within reach. Tents were erected and a makeshift lounge was set up with a small collapsible table and two rolled-up sleeping bags for seats.

At the moment, the lounge doubled as a hospital with clean bandages and gauze interspersed among the ointments and creams on the tabletop.

Simon held up a small mirror while Jeanette tended to the bruises on his face."Look at my face. What am I going to tell Dave and the others?"

Jeanette looked at him maternally."Well, just say that the mosquitoes are _so_ tough here, they don't just drink your blood, they mug you first."

"Ho, ho,"he said dryly, then he jumped at her touch."Ouch."

"Here."Jeanette said, kissing a bruise on his chin.

"My mouth...was pretty sore when he beat me up."

She didn't say anything, but her eyes told him enough. He couldn't remember when he held her hands. Before? During? Or after the kiss that lasted minutes. All he could think of during all three moments was how beautiful she was, how lucky he was and how glad he was that they reconciled at long last. Everything he went through was a bitter lesson, but the message was received.

And not a moment too soon, he'd admit. "I-I should get beat up more often,"he quipped while he recovered his love-struck wits.

"Don't joke. You're lucky. I'm glad you told him what he wanted,"she said more seriously."Now let me finish putting this ointment on you."

"Yes, doctor,"he said, releasing her hands reluctantly.

A short time later after sitting through Jeanette's ministrations, Simon sat by the bank. His bare feet in the brisk pool felt heavenly. He heard her approach and then heard her gasp sharply as the water cooled her feet, as well. Then she laid back, also and stared at Heaven with him.

"A dollar for your thoughts,"he said.

She glanced lazily at him and smiled."I _thought_ it was a penny."

"Yours are worth more."

She suddenly felt a warm glow from that and blushed."Well...I don't know. I'm just glad we got away. Counting our blessings. You?"

"Nothing at all, to be honest. It feels pretty good not to think sometimes."

"Mmm-hmm,"she agreed, stretching out on the jungle grass. A motion Simon caught out of the corner of his eye."Come to think of it, I _do_ remember something,"he intimated.

"What?"

"You dancing. I didn't know you could slow dance."

"I can't. Well, not really...I mean...I could...now, but..."she babbled in explanation to the unexpected words he said.

She heard him chuckle and realized that bringing up such a moment when she seemed more in control intimately, made her trip on her modesty when it surfaced."Oooh, Simon!"she chided, more miffed at herself than at him for her fumbling."You like seeing me like this, don't you?"

"Not really,"he snickered lightly.

"Suure,"she said dryly."Having fun?"

"It does feel good to laugh again."

He turned over to face her."Thanks."

The look on his face told her he was sincere about that. She softened and turned over on her non-bandaged side to face him."You're welcome."

"I _really_ like the way you danced that night at the party."

Jeanette started to pink."Stop that,"she said self-consciously."I wish I could stop blushing."

"I like it when you blush, Jeanette. I only wish I was smart enough to have noticed that then."

"And I wish I could have slow danced with you that night."

"I wish I could slow dance without crushing my own feet,"he admitted.

They gazed at each other, lost in thought. Yet something was wrong with the feelings they were trying to share. They weren't becoming comforting, nurturing or even loving completely. And they soon knew why. The Past. Regrets of things missed and time lost to foolish pride and heartache flavored the moment with a bittersweet tang. A fresh start was needed.

"I could teach you."Jeanette tentatively offered."If you want me.

"Now it was Simon's turn to chatter nervously."Oh, uh, well, you don't have to go to the trouble, Jeanette! I-I mean, uh, you're probably tired and I don't want to, um, impose-"

"Come on, Simon,"she coaxed as she stood up and then helped him stand."You're afraid someone'll sees you? Like Alvin?"she joshed slyly.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Maybe,"she said, smiling. She placed his hand on her waist and her hand on his shoulder. Then she grasped his free hand with the other."Do you want to lead, Simon?"she leaned close with sultry smugness."Or should I?"

"U-under the circumstances, perhaps you'd better,"he flustered with a smile. Jeanette noticed a red tinge along his cheek pouches.

"Why, Simon, are you blushing?"

"Sorry,"he confessed, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Don't be. I like it when _you_ blush, too."She rested her head on his shoulder and luxuriated in Simon's clumsy, comforting sway."See, Simon? You're a natural."

The moment was so real for him, so perfect. Just Jeanette in his arms and the sound of the little waterfall as their music."I...have a good teacher,"he said in her brunette hair.

They snuggled closer in the dance, not wanting to be separated ever again by anything or anybody.

"They did the impossible. They escaped me."Arthur said to the officer in charge of the search.

"They won't escape _us_, sir,"said the captain stiffly and somewhat haughtily."Patrols are searching the bay and harbor now and other detachments are searching throughout this side of the island."

"What about the west?"

The captain seemed to hesitate."It's slow going, sir. We've been sending scouts to survey the area recently, but without a complete map of the western side to coordinate our searches, we'll simply run into ourselves."

"Why were we so lackadaisical in our surveys?"Arthur asked himself in frustration.

"Sir?"

"Never mind. Any word yet from the trail boss?"

"No word yet on whether he captured them or not, sir, and the tracker on his TeleChip didn't activate automatically every two hours as programmed."

Already Arthur was assuming the worst. If Simon and Jeanette put up a fight and somehow incapacitated the trail boss, that would explain the absence. If the trail boss _did _capture them and in the course of returning them, was forced to kill, then that, too, would explain away his absence in two ways.

One: if he was forced to kill Simon, the trail boss might be reluctant to report that he essentially deprived Arthur of the opportunity of doing that deed himself.

Two: if he was forced to kill _Jeanette_, then the trail boss would be much safer in the wild unknowns of the western jungles than he would getting summarily lobotomized with a dirty spoon without the benefit of anesthesia by Arthur. And that was if he was forgiving. None of those thoughts made him particularly sanguine.

"Assume that the trail boss was killed and find the body if you can,"he said finally.

"Sir. Yes, sir."

Arthur was about to dismiss her when the captain's own TeleChip began beeping where it was clipped to her sleeve. She read the tiny message that scrolled along the built-in miniature monitor. A moment later, she made her report."Patrol Four has just found the trail boss, sir. His body was discovered near the edge of the western territory. They must have went there."

During that time, Arthur was deep in thought."Captain, how are you in armored maneuvers?"She was puzzled by the seeming non-sequitor."Sir?"

"I think I have an idea and a way to test our little toys."He turned on his 'com and spoke."Testing facility Two, how long will it take to prep and shield the PACs? Perfect."He couldn't hide his grin at all as the captain wondered about all of this.

Another Granola bar wrapper floated to the ground alongside the other spent and crumpled containers of rations that Simon tore into. Jeanette, silent and slightly awed, watched her normally conservative boyfriend devour trail mix, Granolas and packaged fruits with an energy that rivaled Theodore. _'He must have been starving in that prison,' _she mused.

Simon was rushing more food in than his cheek pouches could store. He stopped long enough to swallow what he had and then quickly recover when he saw Jeanette watching him."Sorry, Jeanette. I was just so hungry I couldn't-"

Jeanette waved it off."Don't worry, Simon. I know you were hungry. Don't let me stop you. Just try not to choke, okay?"

"I promise."

Jeanette opened her own bag of trail mix and relaxingly ate with him in their lounge area. A question nagged at her, begging to be answered and now was as good a time as any to ask."You didn't finish answering my question in the prison,"she goaded quietly.

"Hmm?"

"I asked you how did you get here? Last night, remember?"

"Oh,"he recalled."Well, I heard Duval tell you that he was going on that so-called island vacation. If you managed to go with him there, then I figured that it really _was _over between us since I couldn't think of a single way to follow you there."

Jeanette simply nodded in agreement and silently thanked God that everything turned out the way it did so that, in the end, it _wasn't _over between them.

"Then a miracle happened, or so I thought,"he continued."The day after the party, I received a small package in the mail. I was too depressed to find out what it was at the time, but Dave later told me that it was a videotape about this place, Science Island, and that I had won a complimentary vacation there. 

Normally I wouldn't have trusted such a thing, especially since I didn't see the video. But Dave and the guys _did _and so Dave decided to let me go there. I was so desperate to go, I thought I was extremely lucky, so I jumped at the chance."

He sagged slightly as he remembered what happened next."No sooner did the private plane taxi then I was drugged by the stewardess and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a dark room. I haven't even _seen _this science camp that we snuck through until today."

"It's very advanced. You'd like it."Jeanette said.

Simon shrugged."Obviously our families were programmed by those tapes to send us here, just as Duval said."

"No wonder I didn't see you for the rest of the week. I thought you were ignoring me,"she said."Okay, so how did you follow me to the party?"

"I was doing some stargazing from one of the upstairs windows at home when I saw you leave Miss Miller's house. I was concerned as to why you would leave so late at night, so I followed along with some sound equipment I built a while back."

Jeanette pondered all that he said and finally, after much deliberation and careful regard of all the fact given, said,"Oh...okay."

Simon took a chug of water from his canteen, then said,"Well, now that I answered your questions, how about you answering some for me."

"Okay."

"For starters, how powerful is my time machine computer matrix now?"

She could hear the pride in his voice over his machine, despite what he went through because of it. She figured he deserved to know."It's like everything you built it to do, but _more_. It has more power and can see into more timelines and can calculate more probabilities more accurately."

"Unbelievable,"he said wistfully."I wish I could see it."

"You might get the chance."

"What do you mean?"

"We..."she knew this would break his heart hearing it."We have to go back there."

"What?"he blurted."We just left! We can't! _I_ can't!"

"Listen, Simon. I know how dangerous this is, believe me, but we've got to destroy The Predictor or-"

"Predictor?"

"That's what I.T.O. calls the computer. We have to destroy it because if we don't, I.T.O. will find The Archive and Humanity will be gone."

Simon began to pace the campsite."The Archive. Hmm, I do remember Duval talking about that while he interrogated me. Our people's history lost for centuries and having a deadly secret. Hard to believe we would possess something that could destroy Humanity but I suppose we can't ignore it. But what does this "Predictor" have to do with The Archive?"

"They're using it to scan all probable timelines to trace a historical travel path to find its most recent resting place."

Simon froze in astonishment."Of course! No wonder they needed a _time machine's _computer. It could be used to see into alternate Time as well as the local continuum."

Jeanette walked up to him, fretting."They only used its super probability to find The Archive's general location, but they're narrowing it down to an exact one. I think it could get real bad."

Simon stopped pacing and fixed a grim look towards her."Worse. It could do so much more,"he said, more to himself than to her."Imagine a general with the ability to select the best strategies years before any war and implementing it, becoming an unstoppable conqueror overnight. Now imagine a dictator, a species."

"I understand. It would tip the balance."

"Jeanette, with The Predictor, there _is_ no more balance. It's too much power."Then suddenly he sagged in regret."And it's my fault for building the blasted thing."

She put her hand on his shoulder."Don't beat yourself up, Simon. You didn't know this would happen. Duval and his people are perverting what you invented. Don't let him take your love to invent away from you."

He straightened up but didn't change his mood."Thanks, but you're right. We have to destroy it. We can't let them find the location of The Archive and we can't let them keep the power to influence the future."

"Good,"she amended."Now all we have to do is sneak _back_ into an enemy stronghold and tear its strategic heart out. Any questions?"

Although it sounded welcomingly flippant, her words were very sobering and put everything into sharp perspective. Simon tried to rationalize the fear away by considering the fact that he, Jeanette and their siblings faced death before with their dealings with The Fursteins. But the distance of the years only softened the memory and only brought home the fact that, _that was then and this is now._

"We'll think of something, Jeanette."

A squad of I.T.O. SecuriMunks stood around in various states of alertness in a clearing several yards away from where the body of the trail boss was found. They talked at length about how he was killed and what they would do to the perpetrators when they were caught.

In the midst of their talking they could hear a low tremor approaching the clearing steadily. They paid no heed to it.

Only when the three mechanized brutes shoved their way through the weaker trees and underbrush, did the patrol give an interested look in their direction.

The three machines took positions along the wide glade, facing a different section of the jungle to search. One was parked near the squad.

Standing a towering(to them)seven feet high, the construct, an armored vehicle, was shaped expressly like a silver-iron plated chipmunk. Its posture was stooped, as if walking erect was something it was trying to come to grips with and its monocular sensor array visor scanned all. Among all the ports, panels and protuberances that covered its plated body, two conical devices were most easily the most noticeable as they sat atop its hunched back.

The armored plastron powered open and a female Chipmunk pilot leaned out a little from her contoured seat to address the group."Hey, how's the search coming along?"

The squad leader turned his attention to her when he finished giving his orders."The search continues, of course. However, I still don't see how these two-legged tanks are going to do anything except let them know that we're close."

"Exactly,"she said smugly."Hounds to the hunters. We can handle anything in that bush with this armor. We flush them out and into your loving arms, we call it a day and then you can tell me again why you married me for my brains."

He bristled under the surprised looks of his subordinates. So much for the mystique of a commander, having a loving spat with his wife while on-duty. She saw that that had the desired effect and closed the hatch with a flirty look to her husband.

The vehicle lurched forward and marched towards an obstructing grove. The squad wondered how the machine was going to break through, when the two conical devices on its back suddenly glowed green and quickly enveloped the machine in a verdant, translucent sphere of energy. 

The squad's wonder turned into awe when the trees and grasses that came in contact with the sphere shriveled and turned into dead, papery husks and mulch. With the obstruction cleared, the Personal Armored Combatant continued into the jungle, its defoliant shields occasionally coming to life to clear a path. When it was no longer visible, the squad leader spoke up,"Let's move out."

It was a triumph of miniaturization and power. From its memory modules and computer controlled signal/frequency location matrix to its telecommunication software and monitor technology, the TeleChip was inspiring.

All of this Jeanette marveled at as she carefully probed and studied the exposed innards with the tip of her Swiss Army knife."It doesn't look like it was damaged when the electricity hit the trail boss. I might be able to call outside the island for help,"she said to no one while deep inside, she wished that they could have escaped without having death clear the way for them. 

She only threw the canteen at him to throw off his aim so that she and Simon might run away. It was only after he fired that she knew the nature of the weapon, but by then it was too late. _'Not my fault,' _she thought. _'It was self-defense. I didn't know it fired electricity. I just...moved...just reacted to the attack.'_

"I hope he didn't have family,"she whispered to herself.

"I don't think it would have mattered, Jeanette."

Jeanette jumped with a squeak when she heard Simon's voice come from behind."Don't you have better things to do than sneak around?"she snapped bitterly.

"Sorry."

Coming down from the shock and relieved that it was only Simon and not I.T.O., she calmed, although he could still see her tremble a little."I'm sorry, Simon. I-I just can't help thinking about that trail boss that I...I..."

He put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly and walked around to face her. He had long since came to terms as best he could with what had happened. He needed to make sure that she did likewise."Listen to me,"he said slowly, pointedly."It's not your fault. You saved my life. He would have killed me. You and I didn't know what kind of weapon he had. If anything, he killed himself. I find it very hard to believe that he could use such a weapon and not know anything about the conductivity of water."

"I guess. But I feel so wrong about it, Simon. I wish he hadn't done what he did. I really do."

"So do I, Jeanette. So do I."

She noticed that he was carrying a walking stick he had fashioned."Where are you going?"

"We need to know as much about this area as we can. I'm going to follow this waterway and scout around. Maybe find a better location in case we have to move in a hurry."He turned to leave but Jeanette held him back fearfully.

"Simon, wait! Do you have to go? Now? I mean, we could both go together. I-"

"Jeanette, you have to stay and watch after the camp. It's too late in the day for both of us to break camp and find someplace more strategic. Besides, you have to figure out how to work or modify the TeleChip to send a call for help."

Jeanette sheepishly calmed down and reluctantly bowed to his logic, insufferable as it was at the moment."Alright, I'll stay here. Just hurry back, okay?"

He smiled at her and she could see the cocky, charming hint of Alvin in it. She had to accept that Simon had some of Alvin in him, at times. And it wasn't half bad. Sometimes. Jeanette smiled back as he said,"I will. I promise,"and marched away.

When he was far enough from her, he added to himself,"Besides, if I get caught, I'll be so far away from the camp, they'll have a difficult time finding you. I may have betrayed the world to Duval, but I won't betray you to him."

"Pac One to Pac Three."

The words startled the pilot of Pac Three momentarily. He lazily gazed at either the forward monitor, terrain mapping system or the Bio-Scan. None of their information gave a hint to the fugitives' whereabouts, especially the Bio-Scan. He simply drove the armored suit into a typical search pattern, going through the motions and going insane from the boredom.

He punched in the com unit."Pac Three, here."

"Any sign of them yet?"

"Negative, Pac One. And I don't think we'll find them unless we hunt them down on foot."

"What do you mean?"

He quickly heeled over to avoid a copse of ancient trees. They would have been dead trees, but he discovered that using the defoliant shields too often drained power from the main energy banks and he was in no mood to be stranded out there when night fell.

"It's the Bio-Scan. It's good, but it's also too sensitive. With all the life readings in this jungle, the scanner's computer can't single them out. It's like looking for a needle in a metal factory."

"Well, do your best, Pac Three. We return with or without them come sunset."

"Understood, Pac One. I'm going over to a hill I saw earlier to get my bearings. Maybe I'll see them from there."

"Understood. Pac One, out."

He accelerated his PAC in the direction of the hill, a good quarter mile distant.

__

'I'd rather be with Simon.' That was the ninth time in as many minutes she thought that. And every time her wish didn't come true, she forced herself to study another component or function of her captured TeleChip. Her plan was to modify the device in such a way as to make a limited radio utilizing one of its open, unused channels to call for help beyond the range of the island. Hopefully, any low flying plane or close passing ship might receive the signal.

Hunched over the opened device while sitting at the table for so long was hurting her back, so she prepared to stand, when the tip of her knife exposed a wire nestled in between sandwiched microcircuits. Curiously, she pulled it further out with the tip and saw that a bit of its insulation was burned open, exposing the frayed, coppery threads of conductive wiring.

Guiding the knife, Jeanette began using the tip to align the broken ends of the wiring together to touch and close whatever circuit she could only guess it was connected to.

From where Simon stood, he could see the slim river formed from the cataract he left snaking into a distant bend that would eventually empty into the sea at the western edge of the atoll. Scanning the woods below and beyond the hilltop he was on, there was nothing of any regard to notice. The wind swayed the sea of tree canopies and the fauna went about the daily business of living.

Strategically, it was ideal. High elevation, low tree line and good proximity to a water source. He started down the side and was halfway through the tree line when he heard the sound of something faint reach his ears. A distant scraping sound followed by the groan and snap of young bark and heartwood surrendering to the irresistible force of a lethally strong machine breaking it into kindling.

Simon leaped behind a tree just as he saw an imposing robotic form stumble clear into view with a green flash, reducing two trees near it into lifeless paper. He marveled at the machine, but stayed hidden. It stopped a few yards from him and from his elevated position, he could see everything relatively.

The low-angled plastron hummed open and a male Chipmunk pilot quickly jumped out and jogged to a nearby tree. From Simon's vantage point, he couldn't see him behind the tree for several moments. Then Simon heard static and aloud female voice explode with a crackle from within the machine.

The pilot, looking more relaxed than before, sauntered back into the cockpit. A moment later, the PAC sped clumsily into the woods.

For a few minutes, Simon pondered about the machine. _'A Human-sized, exo-robotic suit of armor, shaped like a chipmunk with the strength of a forklift. Has to be Duval's handiwork.'_

He was about to wonder about the tree-destroying weapon, too, when a detail nudged at him. Although he couldn't make out what the voice in the suit said, he _did_ notice that the pilot took off towards...

"The river! Jeanette!"

Simon grabbed his gear and tore down the hillside, heading straight for the riverbank, his heart in his throat.

The jungle sounds ebbed and flowed, much like the waters that fed the pool from the lonely cataract. The afternoon sun, once filtered through a living screen of jungle growth, now lit the camp's remains fully. Simon wasn't spared a single sight of the area as his lungs, heart and sides throbbed in agony from the nearly non-stop run.

Trampled grass and torn tents littered the camp. Large, squarish foot-shaped gouges in the turf at right angles and close proximity were seen mingled with smaller footprints in the grass. _'She tried to run.' _he thought, thinking of how she must have tried to outmaneuver the monsters and finally failed.

Among the scattered or broken personal effects and camping gear, Simon picked up Jeanette's Swiss Army knife and glanced at the smashed remains of the TeleChip. Something flickered and flapped in a breeze. He reached a small shrub and gently pulled his girlfriend's hair ribbon from the tangling branches. He rubbed the satiny band between his fingers, desperately wishing she was with him when he left for reconnaissance. 

However Duval found her, Simon didn't care. He feared not seeing her again far more than he feared being done in by Duval at this point. He gathered as much light gear as he dared to bring and took a bearing from the PAC footprints as they led away from the campsite. Simon took one last look at their temporary refuge as the sun began its seemingly swift descent.

Jeanette just wasn't there. Only the wind remained.


	5. Chapter Five

__

Chapter Five

The first thing Jeanette remembered vaguely was quick movement, frantic, evasive action and finally a white-blue flash that stole all sense from her.

Groggily opening her heavy eyes, she could see the last sliver of sun get swallowed by the green distant mountains from the office window of the Administration Building.

Simon.

Thoughts of him pushed savagely into her recovering consciousness. Would he survive in that dark wilderness? After all this, would she ever see him again? Did Duval capture him, as well? She almost wished he did. Perhaps Duval might have been enough of a gentlemunk to take him away from her quickly.

She never believed in suicide, but maybe a mental kind might be acceptable if everything Duval and his I.T.O. set out to do finally came to pass. Jeanette loved Simon. Nothing would change that. And with access to the right psychotropic drugs, Arthur Duval, world conqueror, would have a zombie for a consort. That she swore.

She found that she was lying on a sofa. Sitting up, she was preparing to stand and looked down. A long black skirt greeted her view. In an instant, she stood up in shock and regretful recognition. The beautiful gown of fathomless black, the matching headdress and...She fretfully ran her fingers along her chest and felt it. The silver I.T.O. necklace that felt like a shameful brand, a slave's collar, to her despite its adornment. She was her VR image made flesh.

Jeanette held the tree pendant to snatch it off of her when the office door opened. Two SecuriMunks marched inside and regarded her."Mr. Duval requests the honor of your presence in the executive dinning room, Miss Miller,"said one of the two."We are your escorts."They both nodded pleasantly.

Her eyes went immediately to their Thunder Gun-filled holsters. The squad that captured her were wearing similar weapons. Set to incapacitate, that explained how she lost consciousness during the capture. In spite of the SecuriMunks' pleasant demeanor, she forced congeniality and left the room with them. She'd been hit with enough voltage for one day.

The mushroom soup and vintage wine sat unserved on the ornate table. Nor would it be served with any of the other dishes until Jeanette arrived. Arthur sat at the head of the lengthy table, biding his time. There weren't many functions that required the use of the Administration Building's dinning room, but he would certainly consider this time to be worthy of celebration.

He polished a ring against his suit. Its stone was curiously incandescent, as if fireworks were constantly exploding from within, splashing the facets with electric hues.

The heavy wooden doors opened and Arthur beheld a sight that took his breath away. Standing in the doorway, flanked by the two guards, Jeanette stared in haughty defiance at him. She strode in and her manner and the ethereal movement of the gown and its silk, ebony train floating along behind her made her look like a dark Chipmunk Queen. In his eyes, Jeanette never looked so beautiful. Nodding to the guards, they were dismissed.

Not wanting to show bad manners, she quickly sat at the other end of the table, looking imperious. Immediately, servants appeared from hidden doors in the room and served the meal.

"You look beautiful,"he said coolly, but with a hint of passion. Jeanette fought the blush that tried to creep into her cheeks. It faded away. She looked down and away from him with disdain."Thank you,"she muttered frostily.

Arthur simply smiled."I had no doubts that your keen mind would see through the deception, eventually."

"I guess it's not hard to figure out when you're dressed like Darth Maul,"she retorted.

He laughed it off."I know it seems difficult to accept at first, but believe me, what I.T.O. is doing is right. It's right for our people. It's right for-"

"Did you enjoy yourself?"Jeanette asked with mock-pleasantry. To which Arthur was completely taken aback."What?"

"Did you enjoy yourself?"she repeated emotionlessly."When you changed my clothes in my sleep? Did you get a good look-see?"

Any conviviality in Arthur died fast. He gazed coldly at her and it was at that time she looked up into his eyes and saw stark offense."It's true that like you, I'm in my mid-teens. However, I don't act it. I didn't undress you. In fact, you did."

"What are you talking about, Duval?"At that, she could see remorse."Duval...Not Arthur?"

She said nothing. She didn't want to feel anything for him in any way, even though it was difficult. It was hard. Very, very hard for her to be heartless.

"In any case, it _was_ you. After you woke up from your capture, I showed you this."Arthur raised his hand and the ring he polished earlier glowed in her eyes."Influence ring. Works on light-pulse hypnotics and its the only prototype in the world. I only wanted you to come and enjoy dinner with me, so I told you to wear the gown, sleep and forget about the ring. I'm much too much of a gentlemunk to do what _you_ thought."And with that, he ate.

Quietly, Jeanette did the same.

The PACs returned to the testing bay from the hidden tunnel, a quarter of a mile from the campus. Flanking them were the SecuriMunk squads that searched the jungles earlier. Tiredly, they marched in with thoughts that ranged from, _'When am I going to get a raise?' _and _'What to get her for our anniversary?' _to _'I hope they don't serve fish again.' _and _'It's a good thing that trooper made a pit stop away from the rest of the group. Even better that his uniform fits somewhat. He should be fine with the gear I left him once he wakes up...'_

The sound of powerful magnets disengaging doors was becoming tiresome. Another locked door. Another swipe of the access badge. Another opening into another unfamiliar corridor. The SecuriMunk strolled past ordinary security guards, MunkTechs and Maintenance workers, nodding at the occasion greeting and meeting little resistance. Yet he had a place to go.

A familiar face caught his attention from over at a nearby intersection. As he approached, he noticed that the brunette was older, wore the wrong style of glasses and wore the uniform of MunkTech Supervisor. Wishful thinking on his part.

"Pardon me, ma'am,"he asked the female who could have been Jeanette if she were in her Thirties."Could you tell me where your lab floor is? I'm a new recruit and I wanted to know my way around."

The female regarded him casually."You're pretty young for a SecuriMunk. I wish I had as many people signing up to be MunkTechs, we wouldn't be so swamped, you know?"

"Yes, ma'am,"he said with respectful impatience. She caught on.

"Oh, the question! Don't mind me. I'm just rambling along,"she said with a laugh."This is the floor. I'm sorry. I just don't see too many handsome faces around here."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am,"he said, blushing.

"I'll bet you have a sweetheart back home, don't you?"

"Well," he hesitated."I do, but I'm planning on seeing her again, real soon. As a matter of fact, you bear a striking resemblance to her, ma'am."

She held up her hand in pleasant dismissal."Please, young man, call me Je-"She was cut off by her TeleChip summons. The SecuriMunk slipped away while she talked to the device. By the time she finished, she looked around and saw no SecuriMunk."Probably on-duty,"she muttered dejectedly.

Then she brightened with a sly smile."If only I were a bit younger. Hmm..."

The SecuriMunk picked up the pace when the lab he sought was in view. The sign on the doors read that the lab was closed for the day, but his access badge was built to be persuasive.

The doors parted and he walked into the cool, dim chamber. Partial lighting and monitors tubes were the only illumination within. It was enough, especially for the massive computer complex at the far end of the room.

It was like discovering a long lost artifact or an unearthly device. He was drawn to it. Drawn to its power.

He looked at its terminal, its keyboard, its monitor. It looked impossibly high-tech and unmarred. Too complex for Joe Average or even Joe Average, Ph.d. But he knew it better that anyone else. What impressed him was the _scale_ of the system. The almost obscene amounts of computing power to run it. It was like seeing ones child grow up and achieve its true potential.

Simon smiled as he took delight in the child he created with his own genius and pain. The child he would have to kill.

"First things first,"he said solemnly. He entered the system using the passwords that Jeanette gave him incase only one of them made it this far. Once in, he navigated through the many options and programs afforded to him. Accessing current running programs, he called up the time remaining before The Predictor found The Archive.

The mammoth screen flashed a running clock, an LED speedily flowing backwards. From hidden speakers in the room, The Predictor spoke."Further computations must be made before a determination can be made. Approximate time until determination:1 hour. Time is now 8:06."

Simon stared hard in front of him in thought. One hour. Not good. And with no way to find Jeanette within that time, he was getting more than a little worried. Still, he squared his shoulders and blurred his furry digits over the keyboard again.

If she somehow didn't make it, Simon would have to carry the day. He would do it, but he would not leave. Not until he found her or her body.

The multi-colored schematics and technical specs for The Predictor sprang up on the screen."Well, at least there were fewer modifications than I figured,"he muttered curiously upon studying them."The components are just larger in scale and power output."

He sat back to relax and look at the plans for any weakness to exploit, when he noticed that the schematic were superimposed onto the base's floor plans.

That wasn't surprising. The fact that the schematics took up the space of _four _floors and was directly below the very floor he was on, was.

__

'Its power must be enormous,' he thought as he ran scenarios of what Duval and his people would _do_ with that power.

He read the tech specs backwards and forwards, analyzing overload tolerances based on those stats. It didn't look promising. Increasing its size and power also meant toughening its systems, as well.

There were back-ups on top of fail-safes on top of _redundancies_. And security wasn't spared there, either. Cameras, motion sensors, stun gas vents, ThunderGun emplacements and sonic incapacitators sat ready in every wall, corner, ceiling and floor.

It certainly made sense. The heart of the heart of The Predictor, the most advanced temporal device on the planet, sat there, dominating those lower levels with the majesty of its expansive presence and awesome theoretical physics.

"It has to be sabotaged,"he mused."But how?"

Simon kept staring at the plans. At the crisscrossing, interconnecting linkages among the high-energy components. At the impenetrable security. At the vast catwalks and open structural supports that girthed it all. He might as well have been staring at a brick wall. Nobody going in would get far.

He looked away and rubbed his eyes to ease away the tension. With a sigh, he glanced behind himself to the quietly running satellite terminals, staring at their winking function lights.

"I wonder how much memory they have?"he asked himself absently. Then he thought about the security below him. He sat in the quiet, meditating, turning old ideas around until new ones formed and discarding them when they didn't satisfy. He couldn't help ruminating over the fact that for all this computing power, it was still so delicate. One slip, one mishap, could send it all crashing down.

"That's it!"Simon screamed."Crash! It's defenses are good against external threats, but what about _internal_ ones?"He jumped back to the keyboard with malevolent grin."Let's see how good you are with multitasking, Predictor?"

He quickly keyed in a command. A gray window popped up on the screen above warning him that Predictor's systems were, in effect, being stretched almost to the limit due to multiple tasks already.

__

'Multiple tasks?' he thought. _'It seems that someone has beaten me to it. But who? Duval...?No. He wouldn't want to abuse it...No matter. Whoever did it, it's done. The Predictor's straining its circuits. The best thing to do here would be to help it along.'_

He keyed in another command."Okay, call up all information on I.T.O.,"he said to it, even though he simply typed the commands in."Jeanette was a member, so this _shouldn't_ be restricted. Charter, organizational hierarchy, history, everything. Transfer all data to into available storage medium and alert me when finished." 

He entered the command and was delighted when in took long minutes to run. It was slowing down. He typed another."Entering new command. Locate any communication facilities."That took less time than the first, but was no less important.

A window appeared on the screen in front of the shifting blur of text and images of a secret organization in the process of being exposed. The window showed the base's floor plan and a location of the Communications Center.

Committing it to memory, Simon closed the window and typed another command. A real doozy, directed at Communications. And after that, he would put it to _real _use. Finding Jeanette.

In another part of the complex, in its own Administration Center, a MunkTech urgently called his supervisor."Sir, I'm getting a silent alarm in The Physics and Chemistry Labs up top. Wait...The Virtual Reality Labs and the male and female dorms, too."

An aging male in an ill-fitting suit waved the alerts and his subordinate's anxiety away with dismissive waves."Don't worry. Campus Security should have it under control."

"But, sir,"said the MunkTech."According to the computer, network connection to the security up top was severed from the _Art and Science Museum _system."

"Someone hacked into our system from there?"

"More than that, sir. Intrusion is from several sites all over campus."

The Supervisor began to pace."And Campus Security doesn't even know about it?"

"No, sir."

He sighed. He hated sending out messages to those SecuriMunks. Too trigger-happy and gung-ho."Notify Main Security to the situation."

"Sir."

Jeanette just looked at her carrot cake. Under the circumstances, she just couldn't enjoy her favorite desert at the moment. Something to do with the host."How can you condone what you do?"she asked incredulously.

"We haven't done anything yet,"he said simply as he ate his dish of ice cream."How do you condone what _you_ do?"

"And what _do_ I do?"

He stopped in mid-spoon and said with mild surprise,"Why, be a pet performing tricks for Humans, what else?"

"What?"she asked with venom.

"Do you think all of those clamoring, adoring fans, the Humans, I mean, think of you as anything more than part of some animal act? The Chipmunks and The Chipettes _are _unique, but only in a carnival sideshow sense. If they were to renounce their foolish dependence on Humans for their own self-worth and embrace the truth of I.T.O. ,they could be _more_ than just weak heroes for our people and the butt of Humanity's joke."

Jeanette then made a decision. She began to eat her cake. She was going to need her strength when she spoke her mind.

"Oh, yeah. Chipmunks the world over are going to flock to _your_ banner. Nothing sways a heart more than participating in the mass extinction of a species."

"Why not? Humans do it to themselves every twenty or fifty years or so,"he reasoned breezily.

"Human warfare? Duval, that is such a cop-out. Chipmunks don't all feel like you do and Humans don't all think like you say,"Jeanette shot back."You're a coward. You and this Iron Tree Organization of yours. You hide in your dummy companies and scheme your twisted politics, but you'll never win _me _over."

"I understand your-"

"I don't _care_ if you understand-"

"Just..."he tried to placate."Just hear me out."

__

"No!"she yelled. She had her fill of his deception and duplicity. Had enough of his disturbing and weak rationalizations for genocide. Just had enough of _him_. 

"I'm _tired_ of hearing you. I feel sorry that they brainwashed you, but you're not going to do that to me. If you knew Humans at all, like Miss Miller and Dave, you'd know that they're not all the monsters you think they are."

Arthur stood up at once. He had to help her see her mistakes, for her own good.

"Insane! You're the one who's been brainwashed! I read the published bio on you and your sisters. The orphanage in Sydney? You were targeted for exploitation by that Human sow, Miss Grudge, when you were still just_ infants! _The Chipmunks were taken from David Seville by his landlord and sold to a zoo as _live food _for a cobra! _Humans, _my dear, not Chipmunks. Your futures were nearly snuffed out before they began."

Jeanette maintained her composure, but her emotions were starting to seep through the cracks."Obviously, you read what you _wanted_ to read. Olivia, a _Human_ orphan, took us out of the wild and cared for us like sisters until we were taken from her by Grudge! Dave risked everything he had in the world for the boys! And Miss Miller took me and my sisters in when we were at our lowest. She loves us and she's our mother, no matter what you say!"

Arthur rolled his eyes in disgust."You _are _that naive."

"So what if I am?"she said with conviction."It doesn't mean I'm wrong. But suppose you do it. Eliminate Humanity. What about our families? The Chipmunks and The Chipettes aren't the only Chipmunks in the world with Human parents. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Chipmunk/Human families out there. Are you going to snatch our people's love from them, too? Do you think their loved ones will sit around and let this happen without a fight?"

"Oh, we expect some resistance from those Humans and even from our people, believe it or not. All will be well,"he said calmly."I mean, take your Miss Miller. She was simply lonely and she's obviously senile. She'll be easy to dispose of, though. It would be doing her a favor."

Now it was Jeanette's turn to stand. To hear the words_,"Miss Miller" _and _"...dispose of..." _in the same sentence was too much and too frightening for her to bear from this petty dictator-to-be. She bolted into a fast walk from her seat towards Arthur, eyes afire.

__

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!"Jeanette demanded and delivered to Arthur a slap in the face with such force that his knees buckled. The fearsome thought of a world without Miss Miller, especially brought about by these xenophobic psychopaths, destroyed her self-control and demure demeanor.

Civility forgotten, he recovered with a savage rage and seized her by the arms with sudden strength. The look in her eyes was clear. She feared the blow to come and,she _would_ flinch, but she wouldn't stop defying him.

The emotion was too much for him and he _had_ to show her who he was without a doubt.

He kissed her hard, pinning her arms to her sides as she desperately fought for distance. She managed to turn her face away after a minute of this. Then he shoved her into the side of the table. Jeanette looked at him with fearful, yet murderous eyes. She was shaken, but not hurt.

"_That's_ who you're dealing with,"he said in a dark whisper."I love you, Jeanette, but you will _not_ challenge me."

"Then you better use that ring on me every day because that's the only _real_ power in this room,"she shot back shakily.

Duval approached her, probably to help her up, probably to attack, she didn't care. She flinched inside as he came nearer."Come with me, I will take you to your quarters,"he said with as much patience and calm as he could resurface.

Jeanette, still shaken and using the table for support, mustered a defiant shove."Keep away from me! Leave me alone!"

He grabbed her by the closest wrist and was pulling her into a standing position while she was struggling with her free hand to break the hold that was threatening to hurt her even more. So intent were they in their tug-of-war, that they didn't hear one of the servant doors open behind Arthur.

At the sight of the SecuriMunk brandishing his sidearm, Jeanette slackened her defense despairingly.

Arthur noticed that she was finally capitulating and smirked in triumph when the trooper reported in."SecuriMunk810,reporting.What are your orders?"

Without looking back, Arthur said,"You will escort me and Miss Miller to her quarters. She will be confined there until called for."

"What are your orders?"the SecuriMunk repeated and Jeanette noticed that the trooper carried the sidearm with a strange heft.

Arthur sighed in exasperation. Was the trooper hard of hearing of simply dense. He was about to repeat the order when he happened to look at Jeanette's face suddenly brighten, alive with joy. She was staring past him, so he released her and spun around.

To stare in shock at Simon's grim face. Then Arthur felt his consciousness come apart, courtesy of a brutal blow to the temple with the blunt, heavy rear of the ThunderGun.

Jeanette leapt into Simon's arms, tearily, kissing his cheek and embracing his neck in a death-like grip."Simon! Oh, I thought I lost you! I thought I'd never see you again! How did you get in? How did you find me? Did you find The Predictor? How much time-"

Simon laughed at the blizzard of questions with a wheeze, just happy to be with her again."Whoa! I-I missed you, too, Jeanette. I'll tell you everything on the way to the elevator."

"The elevator?"she asked breathlessly as they hurried through the servant door."Why?"

"To stop the clock!"

To anyone present on the campus, this was unnerving to the extreme. Campers from both dorms were rushed out and stood on The Quad. Every building on campus was being searched floor by floor, instructors were being questioned and computer equipment was either being brought in to assist in the investigation or taken away because of it.

Squads of SecuriMunks fill the area, separating groups of campers for questioning and every teen there was having the increasing notion that maybe spending Summer at the swimming pool, or on a family vacation, or visiting relatives, or reading, or in Sammy Land, or even summer school _might_ be better than what was going on at the present time.

"Where are you taking her, trooper?"a squad leader asked when he spotted Simon and Jeanette heading towards the main elevator. Jeanette caught Simon's knowing glance and played along, silently looking forlorn.

"Mr. Duval ordered me to escort her to The Predictor Lab, sir,"Simon said stiffly, calling on all of his experience as a once-accidental Red Beret Commando recruit.

"Carry on, trooper,"said the squad leader."When you're finished, report to the campus. We think there may be saboteurs here."

"Sir. Yes, sir."Then the two entered the called elevator as the squad leader heeled away.

As the car descended, Jeanette perked up again."You're quite the actor."

"Thanks."Simon smiled smugly. Colonel Granite would have been proud.

Jeanette went to the control panel."I'll get us down."

That's okay,"he said, holding up the access badge to the dark glass square over the buttons and then pressing the Basement button."So _that's_ how you got up here,"she said."Well, how did you find me?"

Simon fidgeted with the built-in armor of his stolen uniform and adjusted his glasses."Well, after I found the labs and used your password to get into Predictor, I made it search for you...after I made a diversion or two."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when that squad leader said that there might be saboteurs here?"She nodded.

"That was me. Predictor is tied into their main computer network. I entered the system through a low-security maintenance pathway and told Predictor cut off all communication between Campus Security and the underground base. Then I made it give false intrusion alarms to the base's security system, telling it that illegal intrusions were going on all over campus. With no way to tell security on the campus, they had to dispatch SecuriMunks to investigate."

"Not bad,"she said impressed."So the way should be clear to the labs?"

"I hope so, but we're not going to the labs."

"Why, Simon?"

"Because we can do more damage wrecking its hardware on the floor below. Right now, Predictor is running more commands than it can safely handle. Hopefully, it should suffer a major systems crash, but we can't take the chance of a successful reboot. So were going to have to physically sabotage it to make sure."

"Okay, if you say so."

The doors parted and an orderly gorge of girder work, stairwells, conduits, cables, computers and glowing high-energy components spread before their eyes. They stepped out of the car and were both hit with a wave of vertigo when they realized that what they stood on wasn't a floor, but a catwalk that spanned to the other end of the vast chamber. This was intersected by another catwalk that spanned the chamber's length from right to left. Both catwalks were suspended and soared above supporting machinery over one hundred feet below.

Jeanette walked ahead of Simon as they walked the narrow path, It was just wide enough for two Chipmunks to walk two a breast, a Human would have to walk sideways. 

They were almost halfway across when Simon's stomach gripped him in horror and he chose his best curses to lash himself with as he remembered that they just wandered into a death trap."How could I be so stupid?!"he screamed as he grabbed Jeanette by the arm and turned back towards the elevator.

"What's-what's wrong, Simon?"

"There was so much going on, I forgot! This is a high-security area,"he said breathlessly."...Forgot to find away...a way to defeat it!"

"But it would have gotten us by now,"she reasoned. They were a few yards from the elevator when the logic of what she said hit home."You're right,"he said."Why didn't anything go off?"

"Thank _me_ for that!"

Both heads whipped up to see Arthur coming down from a leap from a high girder to land neatly in front of Simon. He wore a stylized suit of armor that was close-fitting and shell-like. 

The surprise worked well for Arthur as Simon was frozen in indecision. Then he was ripped from Jeanette by a strength-enhanced punch that sent Simon bouncing back towards the catwalk intersection.

"Simon!"Jeanette screamed, thankful that the catwalk had railing or he would have plummeted. She could sense something feral in Arthur this time. Just like when he shoved her, but he wouldn't hold back on Simon. He was going to kill him in front of her eyes and she was helpless.

No. She wasn't going to _let_ him die. She would try everything she could think of to stop Arthur, or, at the very least, make his victory over Simon cost dearly.

"Duval, no!"she cried as she swung a fist to his face, but then found that her hands could be better served trying to pry Arthur's fingers from her throat.

Although she could breath, albeit barely, she was starting to see brilliant spots dance in the corners of her vision. Arthur wasn't holding her by the trachea, but rather by the sides of her neck where they joined the hinges of her lower jaw. Where the carotid arteries lay.

Jeanette tried to stay conscious and was desperate to think of a way out. She took another swipe at his face, but she missed the mark completely. Dizziness came to her in a rush and her extremities grew leaden. A dull roar filled her ears as her head lolled to the side and just before her oxygen-starved brain shut down, she thought she her Simon's voice. Then darkness.

"You will not challenge me, my love,"Arthur told the prone body by his feet. Then he move in on Simon.

As he saw Simon slowly stand, a sudden shock of dizziness and nausea swept through him. The aftereffects of a concussion. He reached out a hand to grab a railing for support and like Jeanette, missed it completely. Staggering forward, he walked right into Simon's right hook and was floored.

Simon stumbled over Arthur to get to Jeanette and was almost past him when he was swept up in a bear hug from behind.

"She's not dead,"said Arthur, using the strength-enhanced armor to squeeze the breath from his prey."But you'll be, Simple Simon."

Simon's arms were pinned to his sides, his breathing was ragged and his moves desperate. For every shake, half-twist and jerk, Arthur countered simply by planting his feet further apart and leaning back, letting his leverage work for him.

"That's right, Simon, struggle! Make me fight for this victory! Let me _earn my mate_!"

Hearing that made Simon's blood boil. He couldn't lose Jeanette to this psychopath, even if _he_ couldn't see her again as a result.

As he struggle more, he looked down at how Arthur was holding him up. Arched back with his knees bent, exposing them. Putting everything he had into it, Simon did a leg curl and drove his feet downward and back into a stomp that threatened to tear Arthur's kneecaps loose.

With a yell, Arthur released him and fell back. Simon fell to his knees, gaining back his breath. He remembered Arthur saying that Jeanette was not dead and took strength in that, readying for the next attack.

Arthur stood on hurt, ungainly legs and regarded Simon for a moment. He was impressed. Even pleased. He thought that having Simon trussed up and beaten by his hand would have been satisfying enough, but having him free and in mortal combat was becoming exhilarating. If Simon was capable of knocking him out without hesitation, then he could expect no less from him than a fight to the end.

Simon spared a glance back to see that the intersection wasn't far along. He had three avenues of retreat, not escape, open to him, each one ending in a staircase leading down to the lower maintenance catwalks and the machinery that it supported.

Arthur would certainly give chase and whether he caught up with him on the catwalk, the stairs or below, Simon would end up facing either a lethal beating or a terminal embrace.

Nevertheless, he began backing away, if for no other reason than to lead Arthur away from Jeanette's sleeping body. Arthur stalked ahead.

"Oh, thank you for the headache,"he said, pointing to the dried blood trail that led from his left temple. It resembled a red lightning stroke."I didn't know you had it in you, Simple Simon."Then he became mockingly cordial."You _do_ mind me calling you that, don't you? _'Simple Simon'_, I mean? I know you hate that."

Simon ignore all of that and boiled all his questions down to one:"Why?"

Before Simon could gather his thoughts further, however, Arthur attacked again. To Simon's surprise, the suit allowed Arthur to leap the distance in an instant and land on top of him. 

Simon, in turn, barely leaped away before Arthur could grab him fully. But Arthur managed to reach out and tag him with an enhanced punch to the side of the head.

"Why what, Chipmunk? Be part of this organization? Help bring about Humanity's end? _Steal your girlfriend?"_

Simon recovered from the hit in time to lock with Arthur in a violent, near one-side grapple.

"Our ancestors were fools,"he continued."We had already escaped from one shackle! Now we had to wear another? Ha!"

Arthur broke the clinch and cuffed Simon, causing him to stagger away. Arthur pressed the attack with another punch that sent him crashing.

"The Iron Tree Organization represented the finest minds of our people. We saw the innate treachery of Humans. How they treated other animals. How they treated themselves. We only wanted to protect our people from Humans and their evil, but instead we were vilified and exiled by our countrymunks while they made their allegiances with The Furless Ones. History made us a joke."

Simon caught his breath and tried to relax and call upon _his_ strengths. He analyzed the situation. Arthur was a better fighter and wore a suit that increased his overall strength somewhat. Simon wasn't much of a fighter by choice and therefore was having a tough time of it, plus his own uniform, which was partially armored, only had concealable equipment and no strength-enhancement. But it would have to do. And quickly.

He decided to talk to Arthur, make him distracted and more prone to misdirection and open to a counterattack.

"Duval, I can't believe you're that anachronistic! Or that xenophobic! You and this _organization_ are fighting for nothing less than total chaos. All intelligent species can coexist peacefully, but you're just too cowardly to take that road. Rodents like us, and Humans have enjoyed centuries of coexistence."

Arthur moved closer."Humans cage and kill rodents, too, fool...Just like they will cage and kill us!"He took a leap at Simon, but Simon anticipated that and threw a tiny sphere at Arthur's plastron. The flash bomb detonated on impact, flooding Arthur's eyes with white, acrid light. He crashed badly along the catwalk and railing, almost falling off of it.

Despite Arthur's attempts on his life, Simon couldn't see himself descending to that level and so continued to try and make him see reason.

"Duval, no one wants to cage anyone. If you were as perceptive as you think you are, you'd know that Humanity is not your enemy just because of a few rough spots in the relationship."Thinking about how he almost lost Jeanette to that selfsame attitude, he added,"Trust me. I know."

Arthur blinked his eyes furiously. They weren't clearing nearly fast enough for him. He wanted to reach out a snap Simon's neck, but he was too far away. However, he wasn't too far away to be taunted.

"But I think I.T.O. has had a banner year, don't you think? We kidnapped you and Jeanette. Created the perfect scapegoat by carefully instilling anti-Chipmunk fever inside the world's foremost hate group against us, Humanity's Hand. Manipulated the media into making us look completely beyond reproach and giving Interpol help busting up Hand business whenever the time was right."

Simon knew about the hate group, but was appalled to learn that this organization, this hate group all its own, who could have stopped Hand activities before they even began, chose to look the other way, to doom their people, to further its own political agenda.

"You sacrificed our people, just to prove...your misguided..."

Arthur stood casually and looked at Simon dismissively."Your naiveté is almost as charming as Jeanette's. But she was also just as helpful."

"You tricked her,"Simon spat.

"So? I love her, but I am a Field Executive and I have a duty to perform."

"You mean a crime to commit,"Simon retorted, backing away when Arthur started to advance again.

Arthur grinned like a clown."We'll get what we need from you and Jeanette and then Jeanette will come to love me again...and you'll be dead. Prepare yourself, Simple Simon."

The first thing Jeanette felt when she wakeup was a headache. With difficulty, she opened her eyes and things slowly came into painful focus. 

Two dark blobs were separated, but then attached and quivered for a moment, then separated again. A dream, maybe, rising from her addled mind.

She sat up with a groan and took cleansing breaths. Fighting her stupor, her vision cleared to see at a distance, Simon and Arthur battling hand-to-hand. Slowly she stood up and leaned on a railing for support, thinking. 

It was to dangerous to fight Arthur. Brains were required, but more importantly, The Predictor had to be destroyed. Duval could wait.

Jeanette looked around for a something to use as a tool of sabotage, but nothing was available. She grew panicky as she remembered the countdown,

As if on cue, a voice boomed from concealed, overhead speakers."Mr. Duval! Mr. Duval, are you there, sir?"

Up ahead on the intersection, Arthur motioned to his suit's built-in TeleChip, breathing a little hard."Duval, here."

"Sir! It's The Predictor! It's almost finished its calculations, but we're detecting programming errors due to a heavy workload! Are you running anything else, sir? Other timeline operations?"

"No!"Arthur said as he glared at Simon, realizing what he must have done."Can you delete the other programs?"

"No, sir! Not without risking the current program running."

"Never mind. How long have we got?"

"Six minutes, sir...Sir! Base Secur-"Then static.

"I was wondering when _that_ would happen,"Simon said coolly.

Arthur never looked so anxious. So full of trepidation from that incomplete message and so full of triumph for the impending recovery of The Archive. He stared at Simon full-on, chuckling.

"Oh, you _are_ clever. Six minutes, Simple Simon. You and the old world have six minutes to live! I'll tear you apart!"

Simon speed drew the ThunderGun from his holster and aimed it at Arthur.

Arthur stopped incredulously and smiled."Why, Simon! I don't think you'd do _that_. Besides, you could have done that earlier."Then he added,"It _won't_ penetrate my armor, of course."

"Of course,"Simon said, equally cavalier_."CATCH!!!"_

In a deft move, he palmed the gun and tossed it high over the startled Arthur's head. It sailed gracefully across the expanse in a high arc and dropped neatly into Jeanette's equally accurate hands.

"Got it!"she called out.

"The Capacitor Conveyor! Fry it!"

She grasped the gun with both steadying hands and held the weapon high above her head towards the immense, glowing, X-shaped component that dominated the vast ceiling. The heart of the heart of The Predictor. 

A squeeze of the trigger and the entire power bank's charge emptied into the fragile Capacitor like a lance of righteous fire, overloading the delicate, critical energy balances within, annihilating power regulatory and allocation circuitry and turning a crucial masterpiece of theoretical physics made real into so much burning, worthless slag.

Arthur felt like his world was coming to an end. He felt the whole chamber starting to quake. Girders and scaffolding began to sing songs of stress, instability and metal fatigue as rivets and anchor bolts, weakened due to sympathetic explosions from overloaded power plants below, surrendered their holds. 

But what he felt the most, much deeper than the rising destruction, was defeat. Confusion. Betrayal.

And Simon once again said the words that he spoke so long ago, when his own prototype of the very machine they now stood in, suffered the same calamity. Only instead of despair, he whooped in triumphant exaltation.

"_The Capacitor Conveyor is in meltdown! The Time Machine's ruined!"_

Then he pushed past Arthur and ran back to Jeanette's side while Arthur stared blankly at her. At them.

"Why, Jeanette?"he asked under his breath.

Jeanette said nothing. She just looked at him feeling wretched, letting her feelings, her mood, her expression, be the final nail in his coffin. 

Seeing the pinnacle of all he had achieved through his deception of her, his torturing of her boyfriend and the near catastrophe of Humankind, blossomed a deep and satisfying triumph in her. 

__

This was how she would hurt him, by letting him _know_ that she did it to hurt him. The way he hurt, directly and indirectly, everyone who was dear to her.

She turned to press the elevator button and then felt Simon's back press against her. She turned back around and saw Arthur walking, automaton like, towards them, fingers clenching and unclenching, eyes glazed with hate. Simon positioned himself as a shield for her, his arms spread wide both to protect her and to prepare for the new attack.

It never came. Arthur entered safe leaping distance and readied himself for the pounce when the loudspeakers croaked back to life again. To his deep regret, it was a voice he was all too familiar with.

"Attention. We are The Roaming Eyes of I.T.O.. Interpol forces have taken control of the island. All executives and staff are to cease all operations and evacuate immediately. Repeat, evacuate immediately."The message ended with a claxon.

The elevator doors opened and Jeanette and Simon rushed in the car as Arthur stared at them, unmoving, with a grin that, under the red strobe warning lights, made him look demonic. They feared that he might give chase into the elevator, but he didn't.

The doors were closing and he locked eyes on Jeanette with the seconds remaining and said to her,"You are so _worthy_."

The doors closed and the car ascended while Simon and Jeanette held each other the whole way for support.

The elevator opened onto chaos. MunkTechs, guards, executives, SecuriMunks and Maintenance crews carried personal effects, files, equipment or charged weapons around in a mad rush. The claxon call and the hellish lighting only added to the mayhem on the Lab Floor, indeed throughout the entire base and campus.

In his uniform and in her gown, Simon and Jeanette were stopped by no one as they reached The Predictor Lab.

It was as dim as before, but now there were clipboards, loose paper and print-out sheets all over the floor with some faxes and printers in corner, smoking badly from I.T.O. sanctioned, ThunderGun delivered sabotage. It was warmer inside due to the heat the terminals were generating.

Without the air conditioning to keep them cool, their circuits were doomed. It didn't matter. The duo marched to the Predictor terminal and breathed a sigh of relief when they spied the huge, overhead monitor. Frozen on its face, the monitor displayed the suspended clock of the countdown in hours, minutes and seconds:00:00:04.

Simon began looking into the data ports and disc drives of some of the surviving satellite terminals.

"What are you looking for, Simon?"she asked. Simon withdrew a series of CDs from one of the terminals."Ah-ha! I made a copy of some of I.T.O.'s files on disc. Oh, and good work calling Interpol."

"I didn't call Interpol, Simon."

"Huh?"

"I didn't call them. I thought _you_ did when I was caught."

"No. Hmm...I wonder if-uhhn!"And then he fell over, a small dart exposed on his neck.

Jeanette ran over and knelt by his side. She sat him up and cradled him protectively. Her hand inadvertently rested on his chest and to her horror, she didn't feel a heartbeat.

She felt his carotid arteries and his wrists. Nothing.

__

'No! No!' she screamed inside. _'Not like this! Don't take him from me like this!'_

"Arthur!!!"Jeanette screamed in grief-maddened rage at whoever struck at Simon in the dark. She craned her neck to and fro, watching the shadows behind terminals and monitors, straining her ears for any sound that would betray the attacker.

The lab doors opened suddenly and lights and panicked shouts and voices blasted into the room. Jeanette focused all her attention there and then the doors closed again. But that was all the distraction the figure needed.

Jeanette caught slight movement off to the side of the room. She turned her head and saw the silhouette facing her.

Jeanette held Simon's lifeless body closer and kissed his cooling forehead."I won't leave you, Simon,"she whispered with an assured and weary smile.

She wasn't at all surprised when she felt the bite of the dart in her shoulder. She seemed to welcome it.

"We've...beaten you, Duval..."she whispered as she felt the numbness of death enclose around her. Jeanette looked down at her true love one final time, and then the void claimed them both...

************

The headquarters buzzed in a hush, waiting for her to finish her debriefing with Inspector Jamal. The impeccably dressed female Chipmunk left the office and strolled into a wave of waiting adulation. It wasn't everyday that a field agent under deep cover escaped execution when her cover was blown _and _managed to find a defector with crucial, damning information on one the world's leading technology firms.

Actually, it was probably quite frequent, but to have it happen to an agent that they knew, and not one from some distant division, made it all the more exciting.

She simulated a smile and tried to dismissively wave off the kudos, but they continued to heap. Another agent, a Human, called to her."What was it like?"

"What was what like, Vogler?"she asked smugly.

"C'mon,"he teased her."Tell us how you pulled it off."

"Are you sure you rookies can handle anything I might say?"

Amidst the impressed oohs and laughter, Vogler continued nonplussed."I can handle it. C'mon, spill the beans. I'll even buy you dinner."

That brought on even more oohs of a flirtatious nature towards her, who blushed a little before recovering her cool. She struck a thoughtful pose and suddenly she began remembering the brave teens who saved her life and the world's, it seemed. 

How much they must have suffered and how many they saved and how the world in general could not, for any reason, know who they were or what they did. For the moment, she felt solemn and retrospective. She coolly looked around and saw that no one noticed her introspection.

With a smile, Sheila swaggered into the crowd of well-wishers and recalled her "account" of what happened.

The conference room was cold and quiet. Three well dressed Chipmunk males were the only ones present and although there was no one else who could hear them, they conversed in quiet tones.

"Your son lives, sir,"the first of the Roaming Eyes said to the one who sat at the head of the long wooden table.

"I knew he would. He would not let defeat...or failure quell him long,"said Mr. Duval, fingers intertwined in brooding thought."When he recovers, please inform him that he has served well enough in the past to retain his position as Field Executive."

"Sir."

"In the meantime, what is the status of our project?"

The second of the Roaming Eyes spoke next."Project unchanged. Although Simon Seville and Jeanette Miller destroyed The Predictor four seconds before it could divulge the exact location of The Archive in Venice, Italy, we have enough information to start searching immediately. A recovery team is being prepped for next month.

Your son was prudent enough to use the Personal Armored Combatants in a search for Seville, Miller and one other escapee, an Interpol deep operative. They operated very well under the conditions that we will set them upon once we recover The Archive."

Mr. Duval seemed to consider this. Then asked,"And what about...International Technological Operations?"

Both Roaming Eyes looked pensive and apprehensive."Sir, Interpol and probably every government in the world has a copy of our true operations,"said the first."It stands to reason that we could lose the company to bad press alone. We could-"

Mr. Duval raised his hand and the first fell silent."This is what we will do,"he said calmly."Prepare to move all liquid assets and our manufacturing equipment to our secret Holds. Holds Alpha and Gamma should do for now. Implement Plan Clean Sweep on all executives lower than Supervisor and get me in touch with...Libby. An artifact search like this one is right up her alley. Have her work with your search team, but give her free rein, if necessary."

"And what about Simon and Jeanette? Kill them?"asked the second."No. Leave them be. The world already knows them as celebrities, entertainers. Why make them martyrs? Besides, as Chipmunks, they have proven to _me_ how strong they are by besting my son. They are worthy of the name, Chipmunk, in spite of their folly."

__

'How did he do_ it?' _he thought again for what seemed like countless times._ 'How did he manage to get a signal through the island's communication shield to warn Interpol?'_

Arthur still hadn't moved from where he lay at the foot of the pillory where he was earlier tied to and lashed severely. But he wasn't unconscious. His back was ablaze with pain and he knew that his father had authorized his penalty, but he didn't hold much malice to him. He was savoring that sweet, dark thought of vengeance for others.

Others, like The Roaming Eyes, who he dearly wanted plucked out. Their constant, secret interference and meddling could get him killed one day unless he moved against them first.

Others, like Simon Seville. Yes..._Simple _Simon. He prayed that he somehow survived and escaped the assault. Just to live long enough to be fully immersed in whatever diabolical end he could think up. A thousand deaths done a thousand different ways would scarcely satisfy him.

Others, like...Jeanette?

No. She was quick, clever, loving and strong. She was worthy of a strong mate. An equal in every way. Jeanette was not naive, as was first thought. Just limited by the world's influences and norms. And yet there was still time to take her as his own-to show her the power of righteous might and _his _love. Yes, he would tear her away from Simon's clutches. To free her...and to conquer.

Outside the torture room, The Roaming Eyes stood and talked quietly.

"I told you,"said the first."Alerting Interpol to the island was a wise move in view of the facts we saw from The Predictor. They simply moved faster than anticipated."

"Perhaps,"said the second."But the future can be changed. It would be difficult to convince The Advisors that we almost destroyed I.T.O. simply because we saw Arthur take over the organization. He will do that anyway."

"_Not_ if he kills us and slowly takes control from his father, asset by asset,"the first countered."No. We were right for running a timeline prediction on Arthur based on his current actions right after he started the pinpoint search in Venice. It's just too bad that he escaped with us. According to The Predictor, if he had remained, he would have died in the attack and I.T.O. would have had a better chance of surviving this disaster."

"We _will_ survive this. Interpol, Arthur or misguided Chipmunk youths will not topple an entity as ancient and as powerful as we. Despite Arthur's burgeoning treachery against us, I.T.O. will triumph,"the second commented grimly.

************

Light was warm, enveloping, gentle. A soft melody was heard from some invisible distance in the haze. To Jeanette, that was all there was. She was insubstantial and existed in dreams. Having no body, she floated aimlessly in the ethereal, passing through nothingness and becoming nothingness and vice versa.

Death was freeing and not to be feared as she once had. All she had to do was surrender to it and all of her earthly anxieties, desires, misconceptions and preconceptions evaporated in the mists of her past life. Oblivion, careless and formless, was her future. Her domain and her self.

Yet despite all of that, she knew that she wanted...something? Some...one. But the rational side of her mind had to give voice to such a notion.

__

'I'm dead. I should have no such desires...And yet, I...feel_.'_

Her newly formed ethereal perception spotted/sensed a point of white light in the panoramic haze.

It started as a pinprick and then grew steadier and the same time her surroundings grew warmer. The sound of the melody increased in volume and the spirit of Jeanette Miller was suddenly...

Hungry.

Hungry and physically uncomfortable.

__

'That's an awfully strange thing for a spirit to feel,' she thought. And the second she thought that, she woke up...

The endless light of The Great Beyond transformed, by gradual degrees, into the soft and familiar glow of morning sunlight. A breeze through the open bedroom caressed the loose strands of Jeanette's dark hair and gently roused her.

With a stretch and a yawn, she slowly sat upon the bed she was resting on. Jeanette bowed her head into her hands, trying to bring more of her brain on-line and sort out the whys and wherefores of the past day?-week? She was sure that she _wasn't_ sure.

She took a long, deep breath of sweet morning air. The scents were familiar to her almost immediately. The trees and fragrant flowers of the area. The smell of oak leaves wafting through the bedroom. It was the park. Which meant, when Jeanette looked around, that she was in the bedroom of her and her sisters' Tree Home.

She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out how she got there and she soon didn't care. The life of her. _Her _life, had been restored to her and she was just thankful for that.

After putting the kettle on for some tea, Jeanette wandered into the living room. Her thoughts were on Simon. Where was he? Did he come back to life somehow, as well? Somewhere? What if Arthur had him? What if he...

She came around to the side of the sofa to sit and ponder further, when her heart stopped for an instant. There, looking beatific in a blanket of Morning's Light, slept Simon. Her Simon. She knelt beside him and simply looked at him sleeping. She just wanted to fill her heart with that image. No movement. No thinking. No speech. Just the beauty that was the moment. If only it could last forever.

She immediately recanted that wish. It almost happened! So she gently, softly moved a few errant hairs from his eyelids and cherished the moment happily. She smiled and drank in the instinct to care for another. The awakenings of her maternal instincts, she knew. She hoped that her son or daughter would be just as cuddly, just as easy to love, as her future husband.

"Simon,"she whispered to herself."Husband."

"Jeanette. _Wife_,"Simon whispered back slowly.

"Simon, are you alright?"she asked, holding his hand.

"Yes. I...I..."He relaxed again to gather strength. The kettle whistle squealed quietly in the kitchen."Don't talk. I'll make you some tea so you'll feel better."Jeanette said, putting his hand on his steadily rising and falling chest and then leaving.

Simon yawned and took a stretch, then something in his sleeve fluttered out and fell on the hardwood floor. Something white.

On her return, Jeanette saw Simon sitting up and reading a letter. She placed the tea tray on the coffee table and sat beside him."What's that?"

Simon adjusted his glasses."I believe this could be the reason for our being here and not...somewhere else."

Jeanette took the two teas and handed one to him, then settled in."Here. Drink up. What does it say?"He cleared his sleepy throat, took a sip and read.

__

From a grateful agent,

We in Interpol suspected I.T.O. before, but we didn't have any concrete proof of wrongdoing. I was assigned to deep cover and infiltrated the organization through one their legitimate businesses. They covered their tracks well, which was why I couldn't get enough on them.

Which brings me to you two. You both have done so much. To single-handedly snatch our two worlds, Chipmunk and Human, from the very brink of a war, was not a small feat and for us to repay such nobility would be impossible.

When I was imprisoned, Simon, your intelligence and company kept me focused. When you came to the island, Jeanette, your heart liberated us. Together, the two of you performed a miracle. I don't know how you managed to contact us, but I suppose that will just be another part of the miracle.

Your celebrity status was not unknown tome. I'm a big fan of both The Chipmunks and The Chipettes and it is precisely that reason that I did what I did to you. I'll explain.

The agents that I work for and with are my second family. We would and have, on occasion, died for each other. However, they also have a duty to stop crime. If they saw and recognized you two for who you were and in_ such a place, they would have assumed that you were in league with I.T.O. and just as guilty as the rest._

Luckily, I was in the computer room when you both came in and I recognized you. I was *going* to arrest you first and ask questions later, when I heard you, Simon, say that you made a copy of I.T.O.'s records for Interpol. I knew then that you were trying to hurt the organization, not help it and that if I or any of the other agents arrested you, the resulting scandal would have ruined your personal lives and professional careers. It would have been a devastating parting shot from I.T.O. that would have destroyed everything you and your families worked so hard to achieve.

So it was necessary to "eliminate" the two of you. The chemical in the darts I shot you with placed you in a death-like state. By making you appear dead and quickly taking you away from the island, hidden with our casualties, no one from either I.T.O. or Interpol would have suspected you of ever being there or surviving the assault.

The official report will say that a defector in the organization, who later died in the assault, had information to trade for immunity to criminal prosecution. He contacted us and we moved in. The informationthat you procured for us is beyond price for both our people and the world in general. Soon Humans and Chipmunks alike will see I.T.O. for what it truly is.

Me and other like-minded individuals believe that your distance and anonymity are the best ways to assure that you are well protected. It's also our way to repay a debt that may never be satisfied. Please accept this and our humble, silent thanks.

A friend

"Look like we saved a guardian angel,"said Simon.

"And more importantly, that "angel" will make sure that our hands are clean and stay that way when it comes to I.T.O."Jeanette said relieved.

"I wouldn't worry. I.T.O. may be the ones needing protection,"he joked."You were an animal back there. They'll certainly think twice the next time they see you."

"Really? You really think so?"

"Absolutely!"

"Wow...Thanks,"she said with a proud, yet self-conscious grin. Jeanette rarely thought of herself as a Chipmunk-of-Action.Capable,steady,dependable,affectionate,perhaps.Butable to possess the power to chart her own way, to become fiercely resolute in the face of strong opposition, to become romantic or even intimate solely on her own volition and to fall back on her actual experience to confirm and affirm to others and, more importantly, herself, that she was impressive, important and a force to be reckoned with? 

That was just too potent an epiphany too bear. And yet it was true. In her heart of hearts and deep in her soul, she looked at herself and all that she accomplished and refused to sell herself short.

A change was born within, a new confidence and Jeanette Miller welcomed it proudly. Gladly.

Although Simon's compliment was couched in levity, _his_ heart could see the change, too. Sipping on her tea, lounging on the sofa and in her black gown that didn't look so menacing in the sunlight, Jeanette looked...no, radiated a new maturity that was, to him, breathtaking. Even sexy, in a way.

And he could see a new Simon emerge from the adventure. A Simon not burdened by the weight of insecurity and misguided expectations that he felt others saw in him. From that confidence, he could acknowledge Jeanette as more than just a girlfriend. But as a _best_ friend and a partner again. And as an equal.

"Now all we have to do is figure out how to explain all of this to Dave, Miss Miller and the others,"she said.

"Err, do we really need to, Jeanette?"he asked nervously. An angry David Seville was like a seething volcano with energy beneath tolerant crust. It would just take so much before...Kaboom!"Dave and Miss Miller have been so busy before the tour. Do we _really_ need to trouble them with something this distressing, now?"

Jeanette gave Simon a level gaze. She knew he wanted to stay on his father's good side just as much as she wanted to stay on her mother's, but full disclosure could only help all involved. Or could it?"Well, what do we do?"

"Simple. We go by what's on the letter. The fewer who know, the better. Our families will know about I.T.O. the same time the rest of the world does. Through the media, not us. We went to camp for awhile. That's all they'll know."

Jeanette tested the logic of that and found that she couldn't dispute it, even if it sounded a little devious."Hmm, makes sense,"she conceded."It's sounds like something _Duval_ would say, but it makes sense."She saw Simon wince at the sound of that name and inwardly, she shuddered a little herself.

"Let's not talk about him, okay, Jeanette?"he asked with strained diplomacy.

"I'm sorry."Then she changed the subject."I'm going to the balcony for some air. Wanna come?"

"Don't mind if I do."

The cool breezes ruffled her short fur and made her hug herself for warmth, but she was determined to enjoy the day. Jeanette glanced over at Simon. He was leaning against the short picket fence that acted as the balcony's railing, looking out over the park.

The SecuriMunk uniform he still wore and the way the wind tussled his hair made him look cavalier and rakish. _'Wow,' _she thought with a slightly naughty look his way. _'He's pretty handsome.'_

"Feels like a dream, doesn't it?"

"What does?"she asked.

"Everything that happened to us. I know it's hard for _me_ to believe."

She walked over to him and leaned on the fence."I can't believe we survived. But I guess in the Grand Scheme of Things, it was necessary, maybe even inevitable, that we got the word out about them when we did."

"_When_ we did?"he noticed."How do you figure?"

"Well, new century is coming and I have this feeling that it's going to be a lot like what Dickens wrote in 'A Tale of Two Cities',"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And I guess if the world wants to see more "best of's..."and fewer "worst of's...",we'll have to come together more as a people, Chipmunk _and_ Human."

Simon took a stretch and said,"Well, after the dust settles on this, that could very well happen. Future generations deserve better, anyway."

Jeanette stole a demure look his way."You mean like..._our_ future generations, Simon?"

Simon self-consciously laughed, getting warm in the collar."Well, heh, heh, heh, I, uh, suppose I meant..."Then he shook his shyness away and said,"Would you like to go on a date. Jeanette?"

Jeanette looked a little surprised and a little pensive. She didn't want to refuse, but to go out on something as major as a date, so soon after surviving the past day or so would put a strain or her already nearly spent emotional store. She needed to sort out more, rest and center herself.

All of that Simon saw in her expression."I mean...not right away, of course. Maybe next week? At The Ice Cream Parlor? Nothing fancy, just to talk."

He looked so charmingly nervous, she had to grin. She pretended to think about it while he scratched his head anxiously.

Finally, she looked at him and said,"It's a date."


	6. Epilogue

__

Epilogue

It felt like one of the best days of the month to Simon. He sat at their favorite table near the heart-shaped window in The Ice Cream Parlor. His anxiousness made him giddy and _giddy _was a rare feeling for him.

He smiled in anticipation and started to hum Billy Joel's 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant', so similar this all was to him. He checked his hair again. It was done in that style he reserved for formal engagements, well combed with a wave-like bang that hung over his forehead. He noticed a few days prior that he had grown a full three inches in height. Already the tallest of his brothers, he now reached the height of an adult male, a little over a meter in stature. Although he was still sixteen, he felt older and more in control.

And yet, a part of his old nature refused to give up the ghost. Hence, his new wardrobe. He declared a moratorium on his blue, oversized sweater that he wore like a robe. Now he emerged to the world at large in his new casual look, a blue well-pressed, oversized short sleeve shirt with a pen in the breast pocket, gray trousers and new blue sneakers.

With his standard pair of glasses, he appeared to bridge the gap between Old and New quite well. He couldn't wait to see Jeanette and _that_ felt pretty good.

He had been watching the door like a hawk until a spilled drink from a patron made him turn to the sound. Annoyed, he returned to his door watching. There stood Jeanette, smiling anxiously. 

She felt her heart surge with emotion at the sight of him, as if she was seeing him for the first now and not on that fateful night so long ago in a San Francisco hotel.

He was heartbreaking. A stylish merging of boyish good looks and mature intellectual. Her eyes caressed that boyish face, explored his surprising tone body that the shirt couldn't hide fully, lean and strong, like a runner's. 

No mere boy was he, now, she realized and something stirred in her unbidden. After all they went through, she knew she could be protected by his strength. His whole being. His love. She felt so blessed to have him in her young life.

For his part, Simon fell apart inside. If falling in love again was lethal, he was happily doomed. She wore her rich brown hair down, sporting only a light purple ribbon on top that shone like a tiara. Her lips were full and inviting. And her body...

The soft blue and delicate purple dress she wore accentuated every living curve, every beautiful glimpse of cream-colored fur. Her emerald eyes...He drowned in their glittering depths. She was a beautiful young female. And a symphony to his senses.

"You...look..."Simon muttered breathlessly.

"So...so do you,"Jeanette said softly, slowly taking her seat across from him.

Each saw so much in the other's eyes. They didn't need The Predictor to see the myriad of futures open to them. The mystery and the adventure of finding those futures together, they hoped, would last until the end of their days.

Simon reached over and held Jeanette's hand like a treasure. Then he asked her with a smile,"So...what would you like to talk about?"

Jeanette gave his hand a gentle squeeze and smiled back warmly.

"The future,"she answered.

THE END


End file.
